“It must be 2020” so I have heard many times when describing something that goes totally awry.. And that very much applies to the aftermath of orders from over the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales period..
For a start, all of the warehouses we depend upon for shipping are short staffed due to Covid restrictions. At the same time, with many new orders to process, a critical piece of software we use decided to add to the chaos by crashing (and remains crashed as techs work on it).
And to make it a ‘perfect storm’ and top it all off in a way that is ‘so very 2020’, a key staff member who processes new orders was suddenly struck down with a virus (not Covid, thankfully – but it took her out of commission at the worst possible time and she is only now getting back in the saddle).
Add all of these factors together, and you have quite a bottleneck – especially after so many people took advantage of the huge savings on offer over the sales event weekend.
To this end, we are all doing everything humanly possible to get any and all outstanding and unshipped orders out without too much of a delay – but please be aware that due to the fantastic run of bad luck we have just had, delays ARE to be expected. But please rest assured, we are on the case and everything should be caught up by early next week at the latest..
October has been a crazy month, so many irons in the fire right now – and fires that need putting out – a crazy month in a crazy world..
But it is what it is…
Forge Direct is finally reaching the last of the backorders that killed production for months, some products are selling way too fast to keep in stock for much longer, and in general ‘it’s a jungle out there’..
But it’s not all doom and gloom, just 24 hours ago we FINALLY were able to start selling the Project Sword at times we thought was not going to be able to be completed – our collaboration with BCI to create our interpretation of Links Masters Sword..
And as the month draws to a close, the late Cas Iberia shipment originally due in September is about to land – so stand by for the last restock of the year..! As CAS are the distributors for Hanwei, Dragon King, Legacy Arms, Kingston Arms (and many more) stand by to see a lot of unique blades come back in stock, some for the first time in a long time..
Will update you all again soon. Take care out there.
Our fellow sword brothers and sisters around the world have had a very hard time the last couple of years – at it’s worse, we closed down every single Non North American shipment earlier this year. But the time has come to re-evaluate the situation.
At the end of the day, there are a handful of countries that still allow USPS (United States Postal Service) shipments – so we have added in most of the countries that we could ship to before.
But more than just this, we are also in the process of updating the page on Forwarding Services, as we have found a few that seem ‘weapon’ friendly, or at least tolerant.. But we need more information, more feedback from International buyers who purchased within the last 3 months or so on the SBG Forums and Facebook.
So please, help us to help you guys and let us know your country, what the item was and how it all went..
Will a solution be found? Well, the time has come to try our hardest.. So please share this information with every Non North American sword collecting friend so they can weigh in and we can, it is hoped, get the clearest picture of where we are up to now and where things are headed..
Sometimes, things just keeping getting harder and harder.
First there was the Chinese New Year shut down, then the Covid-19 worldwide lockdown that resulted in the forges sitting idling for months longer than we ever expected..
Eventually, the forges began to re-open, but component supplies were and still are behind production schedules and international shipping ground to a halt (for a short time, it looked ok, but then all the orders bounced back at customs)..
FINALLY, things are starting to look more ‘normal’ and the forges are running at maximum capacity and slowly we are catching up on the extended backlog (though shipping costs have increased dramatically, literally sucking most of the humble profits out of all this years orders).
However, the backlog is still too large for my liking. Some component makers are STILL playing catch up, and so to ensure the forges focus their full attention on completing all the outstanding orders, we have no choice but to temporarily halt taking any and ALL new orders until we are properly caught up again.
Unfortunately, this also means that Project X Japanese has been pushed back yet another month or two – from a planned round of orders in February now looking likely to begin – well, who really knows right now..
Halting new orders is going to hurt both our and the forges bottom line – but at the end of the day, existing customers come first – and personally I just can’t keep taking orders until we have the backlog properly under control..
We will keep you updated as the backlog begins to look more manageable – in the meantime, our apologies for the inconvenience.
As we alluded to in the previous post, we have a LOT of new cool items about to hit the shelves at the SBG Sword Store. Here’s MY favorite (and its a great deal too, buy the big one, get the small one free!)..
Yes, it is the WORLDS LARGEST Wrench/Folding Knife Combination by one of Sam Sung, the owner of Ryujin Swords, Companies – S-TEC. I mean seriously, for $142 every Dad deserves one of these in his man cave (and it also comes with a smaller EDC version here for just $30 if you buy it by itself or FREE with every order of its big brother).
With that beast out of my system, here’s another by S-TEC, the most basic carbon steel chopper around with a price tag to match it ($19.99)
And then they offer what is perhaps my favorite type of knife next to a Tanto – the South East Asian Karambit with quick draw system (patent pending) for just – $24.99!
But if you like this basic entry level Karambit and want to get serious, another one of Sam’s companies – DEFCON – has you covered with the RAPTOR Karambit, available in Black or Bronze Finish.
EVERYTHING about these two blades screams premium quality – from the tempered CPM S35-VN w/ Silicon Nitride Coating blade to the milled 6AL4V Milled Titanium + Forged Carbon handles and smooth as silk cage bearing reinforced lock bar at $246.95 it’s worth every penny, and even better at our special price of just $185.95.
But we haven’t finished with our latest knifes just quite yet – for there is one more brand from Sam that spans the middle ground between S-TEC and DEFCON called Proelia.
My personal favorite, this little hard to classify D2 tool steel folder called the TX927 for $34.99 (which incidentally is a great price for properly tempered D2). But I have a soft spot for their interpretation of a Tactical folding Tanto, again D2 tool steel and again a bargain at $74.95.
That about catches us up with the knife expansion (well, we also quietly added a classic – the Hanwei Practical Plus Tanto for $194 here). After all, it was easy enough to list as we added not one but three new Hanwei Forge swords to the store – all Classics in their own right.
The first two are swords that are almost universally acclaimed by the community as worth every penny and then some, but are so rarely in stock in some cases nearly a decade has passed since they were last made available. But here they are, fresh stock straight off the boat of two swords that if you DON’T know about them, you owe it to yourself to have a look..
First up, the Banshee – an evolved, tactical version based on the Burmese Daab and a pattern typically found throughout what was once called ‘Indochina’ (Siam, Kampuchea, Burma, Laos, etc). But it’s really well made, incredibly good fun, and a steal at just $189.99.
But if you want to go beyond a steal and get a HEISTS worth of value, try this on for size – the Dark Sentinel!
Mixing elements of the Swiss Saber with the Japanese Katana, it is a solid performing cutting blade that tends to last for years and years without barely a scratch. And no, the $124.99 is NOT a typo..
And then one of Hanwei’s latest products, a special re-release of the Classic Tiger Katana designed by Paul Chen
Truly a sword we can strongly recommend – from the imported Japanese cotton ito to the brass leaf inlaid saya and absolutely stunning Swedish Powder Steel blade with real hada and hamon.. A tad expensive at its full price of $1650, but right on the money for $999.99 – you get your money’s worth and then some..
Well, hope you found something of interest for Dad this year.
PLEASE NOTE: While we will do our best to ship as fast as possible, orders placed now are NOT guaranteed to make it in time for fathers day. The sooner you get your order in, the better..
