Category Archives: Store Product Info and Musings

Additional thoughts, information and hints for our sword lines and products, including detailed introductions of new swords as they come in, special discounts and more.

Special Half Price Offer on the New Yue Maiden Sword by Forge Direct

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Now just $900 $450 with FREE SHIPPING

A beautiful sword with a beautiful, if fanciful backstory, I was personally surprised that when we offered the Yue Maiden Sword by the Baojian Forge at a 25% discount we had no takers..

Click on the pics for higher resolution images.

(More high resolution pics available here in a Facebook Album)

So after talking it over with the forge, we decided to offer it at the absolute best price possible to get the word out about this stunning design and the Forge in general (basically, to use a marketing term, as a ‘loss leader’ – we don’t make any money from it, but we get the word out about the quality of these swords and the forge in general).

A Fascinating Backstory

The Yue Maiden is a famous character from Chinese Wuxia – a genre of storytelling with martial arts heros, the most well known in the West perhaps the movie ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’.

Originally penned by Hong Kong by Louis Cha for the Ming Pao Evening Supplement, the tale was first serialized in the 1970s and was later adapted into a movie in 1986 called “Super Swordslady”.

https://youtu.be/x0I9Vbgy4Mo

Set during the wars between the rival Kingdoms of Yue and Wu over 2500 years ago, the central character Aqing is a seemingly simple Shepard herder who has a curious secret friend, a mysterious white Gibbon, who in the course of play fighting and sparring with her, teaches her sword fighting skills above and beyond a mere mortal..

Discovered by a loyal advisor to the King of Yue, and learning of her skills, she recruits him to train the trainers – and pass on her secrets to the Yue army – and with her sword fighting methods now in their arsenal, the Yue go on to win many a victory against the Wu Kingdom.

But as with all good stories, there is a twist – the young Aqing falls in love with the royal advisor, and becomes insanely jealous when she discovers he is married to the most beautiful woman in all of China, Xi Shi (pictured left), who is rescued and re-united with the advisor after a recent victory against the Wu who had been keeping her prisoner.

Furious, the ‘Super Swordlady’ confronts the helpless young woman – thrusting her blade towards her, but catching herself before delivering the fatal blow..

Yet her internal energy was such that it continued to travel through the sword and caused the advisors beautiful wife to recoil in pain, but upon her face an expression “so beautiful that it will take away the soul of any man who looks upon her” – and Aqing is left sad and alone, yet at the same time, a celebrated hero famous among her people but heartbroken until the end of her days..

While the 1970s version of the story is the most well known, it is actually much older – where she is known not as Aqing but as Yuenü, Aliao and simply the maiden of the Southern Forest.

In the mythological version, she was first trained in swordmanship and archery by her father – but again encounters the white gibbon, this time in the form on an old man, who teaches her the deepest secrets of swordsmanship by combining Yin and Yang to produce Chi energy that no mortal fighter is able to contend with..

With a beautiful blade, intriguing backstory and now a truly amazing price – let’s see if anyone changes their mind about this blade.. The special price of $450 is available until the 18th of December. For all the details, click below:

Sword of the Yue Maiden

Battle Ready Light Sabers!

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Introducing the Saber Shogun Light Sword – special introductory pricing of just $199.99

The discussion often comes up on the interwebz – what is the most deadly and powerful sword of all time. And while many folk suggest it is the Japanese Katana, most others agree that the ultimate sword would have to be a light saber..

The ultimate sword that really CAN cut through anything (except another light saber that is)

We don’t quite have the technology to create a REAL battle ready lightsaber just yet (though if you are curious, the video below explores just how far we might be from being able to make something similar).

So what we have come up with is the next best thing..

It has been tweaked and refined for over 3 years, but is finally ready for release – so without any further ado, we present something truly revolutionary from the makers of Ryujin Swords..

INTRODUCING:

The Saber Shogun Light Sword 2200 Deluxe Edition

It is not the first ‘battle ready’ light saber on the market, but it is one of the toughest and most affordable ever seen – and comes with EVERY extra that most other companies charge the same price as the ENTIRE sword for..

For example, the 2200 Deluxe Model comes with motion activated sound, am easy recharge Micro USB port, and not one but THREE colors (just push the power button to change from red to green or blue depending on whether you are a Sith, Jedi Warrior or Jedi Consular official.

3 sabers in one with just a push of a button

But it’s appearance is just the beginning – this is easily one of the STRONGEST battle ready light sabers on the market.

For a start, while many sabers have their blades fixed to the handle via either a friction fit or allen key lock, the Saber Shogun Light Sword 2200 Deluxe Edition has both and features 3 Allen key locking points (Allen key included).

Tighten with a friction fit, then lock it down with three Allen key hex sockets

As a ‘sword’ is only as strong as its weakest point, this assembly method ensures that once assembled it stays assembled until you want to take it apart.

Unscrew to fully disassemble and get access to EVERY part of the saber

And that is a good thing, because the actual ‘blade’ is (pardon the pun) light years ahead of most others on the market..

Made from a patented synthetic Polycarbonate alloy with a special plastic sheet inside the tube to diffuse the light evenly and then reflected back by a mirror fixed to the rounded screw on tip, you could bash these swords against each other for years on end without so much as a dent or a ding – which is based on personal experience (I have owned a couple of the early prototypes of about 18 months now and they are still as strong as they were the day I received them) but also on extensive testing, including hitting the tube repeatedly with a machete and even running it over with a car!

You probably could not break this thing if you tried!

So they look good, handle good, are virtually indestructible so can be used for very heavy sparring, are easy to order (many other battle ready light sabers on the market have quite complex ordering procedures – making it easy to leave out an important component or order an incomplete product) and are priced at about 1/3rd of the price of comparable sabers on the market.

Just $249.99 – but currently available with introductory special pricing (plus a LIFETIME warranty against blade breakage if you buy at SBG) for just $199.99!

Check them out in the store here

In the meantime, here are some more random pics of a couple of sabers (click the images for the high resolution version).

And a pic of each color – just press the power button to change.

Get your Sith on with the red blade
Classic Jedi Blue
Or go all ‘Yoda’ with green – the choice is but a button push away

In terms of raw durability for this kind of price, nothing else on the market can compare. Stocks are limited, so get in on this special pricing while they are still in stock!

CLICK HERE FOR FULL PRODUCT INFORMATION

Limited International Ordering is Back..

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It’s been a rough year for shipping swords around the world – it all started in march and hit again early this month, forcing us to temporarily suspend all non-North American (US and Canada) shipments..

The situation is still a fluid one, and it appears that some of our affiliated warehouses, suppliers and shippers have been effected more than others..

Right now there are FOUR brands that can be shipped to the following destinations:

  • Argentina
  • Australia (excluding Victoria, please provide proof of AFIAK membership)
  • Brazil (expect high duties and tariffs)
  • Canada (many other brands can be shipped to Canada not listed here as they are shipped overland)
  • Costa Rica
  • Germany (may require extensive paperwork and customs delays)
  • New Zealand
  • Philippines
  • Poland
  • South Africa
  • Thailand
  • United Kingdom (may require extensive paperwork and customs delays)

And here are the brands currently available:

FORGE DIRECT – Japanese and Chinese Swords, FREE Worldwide Shipping

RYUJIN SWORDS – Katana, Custom Katana and budget Chinese Swords

BLADE CULTURE INTERNATIONAL – Filipino swords (currently)

SCORPION SWORDS – Tactical and Historical swords made in the USA

You can read more and see some recommended buys here on the International Sword Sales Page

As the international shipping situation keeps changing, we strongly recommend you buy what you can when you can as we have no idea if things will improve or get worse – but based on what we have been seeing the last few years, the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better..

In the meantime, we will continue to research new shipping options to break the impasse and ensure that our sword loving brothers and sisters across the world are not left out in the cold..

Hark the Heralds: Doomsday Sword # 02 Has Struck..

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The second sword in the Doomsday Sword Series designed by official SBG Sword Tester Jason Woodard and hand made in the USA by Chris Palmer from Scorpion Swords has just been revealed.. And she, the Dark Ninjato, is a beauty..

With it’s distinct ‘American Tanto’ tip, the Dark Ninjato is primarily a thrusting sword but can also be used for snap cuts, slicing, cutting and hacking pretty much anything that gets in it’s way..

Here’s some ‘behind the scenes’ of how it was made

Jason Woodard is a prolific sword designer. In his spare time he often spends hours drawing all manner of swords on 1:1 scale, and has imagined literally hundreds of unique and cool looking swords that only exist on paper…

The initial design concept

But as we have seen many times before, while Jason may be a great sword designer, Chris Palmer at Scorpion Swords takes those designs and makes them a reality..

The process begins with a bar of 1095 carbon steel which is ground and cut to shape before it is tempered and hardened to give it the durability Scorpion Swords have become famous for.

Tempered and ready for the final grind
Now THAT is what you call full tang..
10 Pins and a generous layer of epoxy effectively makes it a one piece construction
Apocalypse or not, there ain’t no way this thing is going to come apart..

The end result? An incredibly tough sword that is almost unbreakable – all hand made in the USA – for under $300..

Blued (blackened) blade with the classic American Tanto Tip

Can’t ask for much more than that?! Click the button below for more information.

Doomsday Sword #2

P.S. With Christmas right around the corner, you need to get your order in now and even then it not 100% guaranteed to be completed in time. But we will do our best – but wait even a few days more and you won’t see it until 2020 hits..

Get Apocalypse Ready TODAY!

Custom Katana Fans – the time has come..

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Okay, I’ve been working around 14 hours straight with only coffee and the occasional snack to keep me going, but we made it..

Project X Japanese is live and ready to order. Indeed, subscribers to the Project X newsletter have already jumped in and out of the 30 pre-order spots available, 20% have already been snapped up!

We only just opened and already have reached 20% of our total order capacity

And then, the one that gave me the biggest headache – changing the pricing and options on Forge Direct Japanese. After much number crunching, some prices are slightly higher than we anticipated and others slightly lower, but when you consider what you can get for your money with even the basic options, well – the value for money factor is off the charts..

In addition to this however, I have also been spending countless hours creating pages explaining all about the two product lines, both the pros and the cons of each, and then a mammoth of a page for Forge Direct here which lists full size images of all the available components so you never have to squint to figure out what the design looks like again.

For your ease of reference, here are the new relevant pages:

Forge Direct – overview

Forge Direct – all the components, huge images

Project X – Overview (just written today)

Project X – component pics

Project X – large images from various angles of the elite fitting sets

These pages are not 100% complete yet and will need to revamp the page about the differences between the various custom lines we have and create a few more helpful pages, as the more info you have, the easier it is to make a clear decision right?

So enjoy the new prices, products and sword buying opportunities. Like I said, its not perfect yet – there’s still more tweaking to do – but right now even coffee number 18 won’t keep me up any longer, time for a rest and then we get back into it! Phew..

If you notice any errors, PLEASE contact me directly so I can fix them. I will be going over everything a second and third time, but as a typical male can quite easily miss small details that are glaringly obvious to a casual visitor but completely invisible to me because I am seeing what I expect to see, not necessarily what is actually there.

Now its over to you.

Have a look at both lines and see what you think. It’s been a lot of hard work, but I stake my reputation on both of these swords as being some of the best if not THE best custom Katana anywhere near the under-priced point we are offering them for..

Project X Japanese – Round 2
Forge Direct Japanese – Version 3.0

Time for a little nap and then straight back into it so that I can be ready for business as usual on Monday. Hope you like what you see – it’s been months in the making, and with so many different options available all based on the very best Katana around, I’m pretty sure it won’t be all that hard to make a design from one series or the other that you will fall in love with..

Talk again soon!