Category Archives: Sword Sales

The Scott Rodell Cutting Dao

Every sword collector has their personal preferences in swords – and for me personally, the Chinese Dao has to be one of my top 5 sword types of all time (my top five tends to vary over time, but tends to always come back to Japanese Katana, Longswords, Functional Fantasy Swords, Viking Swords and – of course – the Chinese Dao).

Why?

Well, quite simply, they are incredibly good fun – profiled and optimized for a shearing one handed cut, and I had an absolute ball with their original entry level Dao, the Practical Kung Fu Sword (reviewed here) – but this one takes it all to a whole new level..

Here’s a video from forged in fire showing exactly what a well made Dao is capable of:

And there is no doubt in my mind that this is a very well made Dao indeed – designed by none other than Scott Rodell from the great river Taoist Center, who also designed the first sword in this series, the Scott Rodell cutting JIAN..

At $490 at Cas Iberia, it is a little on the expensive side, but made available at the special price of just $362.98 at SBG ($347.68 if you use the 5% off SALE2020 coupon code running until the 17th of January!).

AVAILABLE HERE AT THE SBG SWORD STORE

This brings the total number of available quality Dao at the SBG Store up to 3 models available right now, the new cutting Dao (above) – the Hanwei Oxtail Dao (pictured left and available for $219.98)..

And of course, one of the new additions from our friends at Ryujin, the 65mn Spring Steel Ming Dynasty Willow Leaf Dao – an absolute steal at $149.99 (pictured below).

And of course, for those for whom only the best will do, we have the Duan Dao by Forge Direct – that beautiful laminated blade here for $779.99

But a word to the wise, hold off on that one as the FORGE DIRECT CHINESE NEW YEAR SALE is coming by the end of the month, and will see a large discount on ALL the Forge Direct Chinese Swords, plus two new stunning Qin Dynasty Dao..

Here’s a sneak preview:

COMING SOON TO FORGE DIRECT

Stay tuned on these. In the meantime..

The Latest HOT SPECIAL

Themed for each of the four seasons, the heavy duty 5160 Spring Steel Tameshigiri ready Summer Lotus Katana by Dragon King is now on special – down from our already heavily discounted everyday price of $329.99 to just $249.99 until the end of the month and while stocks last..

SPECS: 5160 high-carbon steel sharpened blade, marquenched and monotempered to an edge hardness of 57HRC. Cotton black colored ito over authentic rayskin. Steel fittings, silver habaki and menuki. Green textured ishime style saya with buffalo horn rimmed koiguchi (scabbard mouth), wood kurikata and hard wearing black sageo. Traditional Construction with Exceptional Attention to Detail. Now Just $249.99 (normally $329.99) until the end of the month and while stocks last. Makes for a great long lasting beater sword for the Dojo or the backyard.

From a sword sellers perspective, it is getting AWFULLY close to Christmas. As per our Official SBG Christmas Sword Buyers Guide – the earlier you get your Christmas orders in the better:

1. Because the sheer amount of packages going everywhichway tends to result in much rougher handling than usual, and the chances of parcels getting lost or stolen skyrockets.
2. If there’s a problem, it will be almost impossible to correct before its time to present the gift.

But this one comes from the Ryujin warehouse – and they are poised and ready for super fast shipping (so much so that if you change your mind and try to cancel, more often than not your order is already packed and out the door on its way to you..)

Anyway, you can (and should) read all that over on the main site here – in the meantime, here it is – one of the last new swords for 2019 – the Ryujin 65MN Spring Steel ‘TakWak’ Machete Sword.

Unlike most other blades in this price range and style that are made from stainless steel, this bad boy is made from oil tempered and hardened 65MN Spring steel and combines modern tactical style blades with ancient tradition with it’s unique handle – a full wrap of synthetic black rayskin bound under black rayon ito wrap (and even brass menuki!).

It’s an excellent little modern styled sword – but even better, the special introductory price of just $59.99!

Here’s a few additional high resolution pics of the blade and fittings.

Stock is limited and it’s already proving itself to be a great selling sword, so if you want one, get in quick!

This is one of the last offers of the year, and it’s a sword I have been looking forward to for some time..

I love a well made Chinese Dao – especially those from the Ming Period onwards that are commonly seen in surviving Kung Fu styles and systems. And for the money, this is one of the best around..

There is nothing fancy about this sword – it is pure functionality. The blade is made from well tempered 65MN Spring Steel, an affordable but very tough steel and weighing in at just 1.8lbs is fast in the hand but balanced so that each cut delivers maximum force and cutting power.

Originally the Chinese Dao was a straight bladed single edged sword such as the recently introduced Forge Direct Yi-Dao (pictured below) and were more often than not double handed, though shorter single handed versions were not unheard of.

However, after ‘encounters’ with the curved Mongol blades and after the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty where the Mongols controlled all of China (1279-1368) in the early Ming Dynasty the Dao took on a curved shape, some curved only towards the tip (Goosequill saber) but most were like our version, subtly curved along the entire length of the blade and were known as Liuyedao (willow leaf, named as such for the blades resemblance to the leaf of a willow tree) such as this ornate version from the By Metropolitan Museum of Art, online collection (accession number 14.48.2a) pictured below.

Personally, what I like most about these swords is that they are exceptionally good cutters. Sure, the tip is quite lethal, but it is in the cut where this sword really excels. And when used by a skilled martial artist, they come alive like few other swords, spinning, whirling and wooshing through the air – each movement unpredictable and almost too fast for the eye to track.

While the video below is done with a lightweight Wushu training sword (which are the whippy blades designed purely for sporting purposes) it gives you some idea of how versatile a single handled Dao can be.

Here’s another couple of useful Dao related videos you might want to check out, the first one a basic introduction.

And another from forged in fire where functional Dao are put to the test..

In the meantime, here are some higher resolution pics of the sword we are offering – not $389.99 but just $149.99!

Pretty amazing bang for your buck, but as with each new product – we are never sure how fast or how well they will sell, so as stock is limited and with Christmas just around the corner, if you want one you had better act fast.. Just click the link below for all the details in our store.