Right now, there is a bit of turmoil for the forges that make traditional Chinese swords for our Forge Direct Project.

Earlier this month, there was a big shakeup of the domestic industry over there.  90% of the time swords made by our Master Smith are for domestic Chinese customers, usually wealthy business owners, who want a Longquan sword for personal and cultural reasons. But this month, the Chinese government effectively hamstrung the traditional Chinese sword market by banning transporting swords domestically in the mail and via any couriers…

It will not be until the end of October before the effects of this are truly known and understood by the traditional Chinese sword making community over there. And indeed, discouraged, our own Master Smith who makes the Forge Direct Chinese line for us has decided to take his annual holidays from now until October – meaning that any orders placed now will not be fulfilled until early to mid December..

This puts us in a bit of a tricky situation – and the easiest solution is to temporarily remove all Forge Direct Chinese Swords from our store until he gets back to the forge. But instead, we made him an offer – if we can work together to provide a massive discount on the Forge Direct Chinese line to make up for the extended wait period and give him a nice boost of orders for when he comes back, well – it would be a win-win for everyone..

So here is the offer – 25% off the entire Forge Direct Chinese line until the 10th of October, after which we will temporarily put a hold on all new orders for Forge Direct Chinese until the effects of this domestic shipping ban are fully understood.

Because the future of this part of the sword market is now very uncertain, we STRONGLY recommend that if you have ever had an interest in historical Chinese swords – NOW is the time to secure one.. How long a forge can survive when 90% of its business has been stripped away overnight is very much in question.. And while I do not have a crystal ball and am not saying that this will be the last time we will ever be able to offer these swords, that future is a distinct possibility..

As stated, the only downside is that work will not commence until the forge re-opens in late October. But the upside is the huge 25% discount – and the possibility that after this promotion – we may not actually be able to offer these swords again.. (like I said, this is not 100% – but it is very possible that if the forge is forced to change direction and make swords purely for export – Chinese swords like these will become almost impossible to procure)…

Click here to see the current line up of swords while they are still available

There probably isn’t much point making a lengthy post about them here as there is only one of each available and I have priced them BELOW COST for a quick sale to get back the money invested in them to date..

So without any fanfare or further ado, the first of the scratch and dent items is a custom pommel version of the $1,000 Haiyantang Zodiac Jian.

A truly stunning beast of a blade with master smith folded 1095 carbon steel, double fullered blade with central ridge-line and top quality brass fittings – it was let down when the polisher must have got distracted and missed a small section of the tip..

Anyone with basic sword sharpening skills should be able to fix this up pretty easily – and for this blemish, we are offering a whopping 30% discount, plus FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING..

And the second one is not even a scratch and dent item at all, but was returned because the customer got confused about how to assemble the accompanying steel pole – and by the time we figured out it was just a case of trying the other way to attach it, it had already been returned and refunded. So here it is ready for a quick sale with a 25% discount and is now just $525, saving you $175 and no 4-6 week waiting time..

Both of these items are listed here in the Hot Specials Section – but at these prices will not be there for long. And while you are there, now is the last 48 hours of the Forge Direct Prototype recreation sale – and once finished, they will not be coming back – so plenty of great specials right now, but one way or another, all will be gone within the next 48 hours..

• Paul

Following hot on the heels of our Ryujin Custom Katana special offer, is the cream of the crop – our Master Smith Forged blades by Forge Direct..

The premise behind this special offer is simple – we are offering HUGE DISCOUNTS on recreations of the original prototypes I designed to test out what the Forge was capable of..

Click here to read the original review

The Swords you see in the review are EXACTLY what you can get with this special price offer – optimally balanced and capable of truly amazing cutting performance on a wide variety of targets at both ends of the spectrum..

Now while the designs are optimized and the themes were pretty carefully thought out – both prototype recreations come with one custom option.

For the sinister looking Prototype 1 Katana, you can opt to leave it as is with the default tsuba or change to one of 4 other designs that I feel allow the option to personalize it a little, but do not hijack the theme or overall feel of this sword.

For the massive O-Katana (which, if you read the review, you will learn is nowhere near as cumbersome as it looks) – you can opt to get the original brown with gold leaf decorated saya or one of 6 other saya designs that work well with the existing color scheme.

Based on normal industry pricing, to recreate these swords would cost $1,549 for the O-Katana and $1,400 for the Katana – but as you know, the everyday sale price is $999.99 and $899,99 respectively – and this is exactly what it would normally cost to have these prototypes remade, as they were both made using listed custom options for both of these designs.

But because sales are slow this time of year, and we can lower prices at the forge by standardizing the production, we are cutting our profits to the absolute lowest price they can go and offer the swords for just $699.99 for the Katana and $849.99 for the O-Katana.

Here they are in all their glory:

Prototype 1 Normally $899.99 special price now $699.99

Prototype 2 The OKatana, normally $999.99 but on special for $849.99

And don’t forget, these discounted prices include:

FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING!

The only catch is that we can only offer these swords until the 14th of September, after which time the deal needs to be called off in preparation for Christmas orders – so if you love fully functional and traditional style Katana, you really should check this deal out..

Click here to check out the entire Forge Direct Katana Series

In the meantime, here is a video showing the versatility and clean cutting ability of these exceptional Master Smith Forged T10 Tool Steel Blades..

The clock is a tickin’ on this one.. Less than 18 hours to go on this sale before these two cool and affordable Katana are withdrawn from sale and the offer disappears..

Get ’em while they are still there..!

LOW PRICE AND FREE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING!!

It has been a while since we have had any amazing deals in the Hot Specials section of the store. But from today, all that changes, and the first of our special offers is one of our best for lovers of high quality, fully functional Katana.

From today until midnight the 31st of August, you can pick up two heavily discounted versions of the standard Ryujin custom Katana, but with a few less customization options – and of course – a down to the wire price..

The first one has made an appearance about once a year since the Ryujin custom Katana line was launched, and features the famous Ryujin T10 tool steel blades with real hamon, but built around  a classic iron Musashi tsuba.

A fair market price for this sword is $269.99 plus shipping, and the closest relative is $229.99 plus shipping ($15 to $60 depending on the location). But until August 31st (when these products will be withdrawn from sale) you can get it for just $199.99 and FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING!

The second one follows the same basic deal with the same customization options but with an ELITE Choji Midare blade that is several levels up in quality from the excellent, but entry level, standard option.

Fair market value on this sword is $569.99 (even that is under-priced to be honest) but you can get it for just $429.99 – and again, with FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING!

Even though the number of customization options are less than the standard Ryujin line – there are enough possible combinations to come up with something that you like. Here are a few I personally think look great.

Check them out in the Hot Specials Section of the Store while they are still there..

This offer expires 31st of August, after which time they will be withdrawn from sale. So bargain Katana hunters, and especially those outside of the USA, this one is for you.