A small gap between the rayskin and the wood behind it is an extremely common cosmetic flaw for swords under the $300 price point. The main reason is, real rayskin is VERY expensive – a single skin costs around $70 and is only good for ONE full rayskin wrap or 3-4 panels (which is why you never see full wraps these days. Well, almost never. We do full wraps on Project X, but that is a different story – and a different price point!).
As such, the forges try to get the most out of every little piece of Rayskin they have – but it is not good enough for the Hanwei forges Raptor line..
So when they received a shipment with small gaps showing, they decided to offer them to SBG as factory seconds with a massive discount, and we are passing the discount directly to you!
There is NOTHING wrong with the blades or other fittings, just small gaps in the rayskin peeking out here and there. Something only visible if you look for it (after all, these models have battle wraps on the handle, so the middle section is covered anyway). But the savings are easy to see – $260 off the MSRP and $100 less than our usual already discounted price..!
So for anyone in the market for a serious Japanese style beater sword (and the Raptor series designed by James Williams are among the best of the best beaters out there) here is a rare opportunity to pick one up at a drastically reduced price point..
Probably the best close range solution in the face of a zombie apocalypse is a machete. No reloading required, it’s extremely durable and requires no special training or a large amount of room to use effectively.
Of course, some Machete’s are better suited to the task than others. And naturally, you will want a back up or two, and maybe a smaller knife to use in the other hand in case they get too close and you need to inflict serious damage when you don’t even have room to swing a machete.
Well, Cold Steel has a selection of Machete that are PERFECT for zombie slaying. So at SBG we put together the ultimate zombie hunting kit – two of their most suitable zombie busting blades with heavy, forward balanced cutting action to deliver maximum impact, both in sheathes for easy carry – a “daily” use machete you can keep at hand for day to day tasks (which you can throw before drawing your machete of choice, keeping one in reserve in its sheathe as back up) – and a cool claw like “Karambit” knife for when they get in close. All bundled together for one low price with FREE SHIPPING in the USA..
Let’s take a quick look at what you get in the kit:
KOPIS MACHETE
The Kopis is an ancient Greek design, and Cold Steel brings this serious cutter into the 21st century with a tactical rendition designed to inflict maximum zombie carnage.
This would be my first choice for a zombie ready side arm, and comes complete with a sheathe for easy carry. Check out some (appropriately grumsome) testing of this dedicated cutter in the video below to see graphically what I mean..
ROYAL KUKRI
The Kukri is extremely similar to the Kopis and is my second choice for zombie hunting. Personal preference may make it your first, but like the Kopis it comes with a sheathe so can be dual weilded, kept as a backup or given to a fellow zombie apocalypse survivor..
Again, its sturdy with a design where very little can go wrong. Which is exactly the kind of sword you want in the middle of a zombie apocalypse..
BOLO MACHETE
So far the retail price on both Kopis and Khurki works out to be $89.98, so from here on out everything else you get in this package costs you an extra cent! (plus shipping is free)..
But don’t let the price fool you – the Bolo is another forward heavy cutter that may not be in quite the same league as the previous two blades (MSRP $18.99 compared to $47.99 and $41.99 respectively) but it makes for a great “everyday” use chopper, and can certainly do some serious damage in a pinch..
KARAMBIT
Finally, a good knife to keep close in case the zombies get too close for comfort, the Karambit knife is akin to a claw that can be used in a pinch to cut off undead fingers, pluck out eyes, hamstring and otherwise give you enough room to do some damage with your primary zombie slaying sword.
Easy to use and small enough to slip into a pocket, the video below is of its steel cousin. This particular blade is from Cold Steel’s Nightshade serious and is actually made from “Grivory” which is, in their own words:
the latest in fiberglass reinforced plastic, and stronger than even the super tough Zytel® we have used in earlier models— they are UV and heat stabilized, making them impervious to the elements.
Anyway, here are some ideas on how it can be used..
Normally $15.99, it is included free in the SBG Cold Steel Zombie Hunters Kit.
So there you have it! 4 of the best, most useful Zombie hunting blades in a value pack with FREE SHIPPING!
Don’t wait until the zombie apocalypse is here to get yours..
Click here for more info
You can find this and several other suitable Zombie swords (even the official Michonne’s sword from the walking dead) for sale at heavily discounted prices in the HOT SPECIALS section of our SBG sword store. Some are limited time only offers, others are limited by stock – so check them out while they are still available.
From the start of the month until the 11th we have been running a special $40 off sale on EVERY Dojo Pro Katana in out store to celebrate the “Sakura” Cherry Blossom season in Japan.
Well as the cherry blossoms come to a close, so does the sale.. Now there are only a few days left, and this is not the kind of sale that comes about very often. These swords are extremely popular and don’t really need a sale – but as Chris from Ronin and I are currently in Japan checking out some Japanese swords, we thought – why not..?
Just a quick note, we have just had a limited re-stock of some of Cold Steels best swords which are again available at our heavily discounted prices at the SBG sword store.
It is all brand new, fresh stock – but quantities are limited. Two in particular are limited now to 1pc each – the Nodachi and the Italian longsword, so you need to act fast on these..!
Apologies in advance if they are sold out by the time you view this post – we will be updating the stock automatically and also checking its status twice daily – everything is of course listed here on our Cold Steel swords page.
Phew, things have been crazy busy with batches 30 and 31. Most people in batch 30 and some in batch 31 have already been contacted once we have confirmed that their sword came in and was error and flaw free (try saying flaw free three times fast without making a mistake!).
Speaking of mistakes, in batch 30, I made a couple of exceptions for individual customers – something that I normally don’t do because in the past it messes up the system we have refined over the years – and as such, the error rate on customizations shot up to the highest level I have seen in years. Granted, it was a bigger batch than normal – but there were around 5 or 6 individually wrong customizations (i.e. everything as ordered except wrong ito color, or wrong saya color, etc). So frustrating for everyone when this happens, but our Canada team caught each one before shipping and we have already talked to all the customers effected who are getting priority remakes – in the meantime, we will offer the wrongly customized swords as scatch and dents and one off’s.
In the spirit of full disclosure, here are some of our batch 30 blunders..
Doh, customizations were correct except the ito – should have been purple.. A decent looking sword though, and excellent quality. Priority Remake being done for the customer.
Saya was right, but the ito should have been red on this one..! Argh.. Priority renmake, I don’t know if this a crash hot color combination, if we sell as a scratch and dent it will be a low price.. Priority remake in progress at the forge for the customer.
Customizations were perfect on this one, but white using two pieces of rayskin is standard at this price point, the customer agreed it ruined the appearance – especially on a leather wrap. So its being remade as we speak at the forge, sans rayskin gap (rayskin is super expensive, so they use every strip rather than throw it away. Understandable, and ok for the LITES maybe, but not 3.0 Katana)
Otherwise though, the majority of batch 30 should all be shipped out by this weekend – and some of batch 31. We still have a handful of swords that did not clear customs that we are still working on and those Aikuchi Tanto that should be leaving the forge this week, so don’t worry – while we are super busy managing it all, rest assured that we are on the case and no one has been forgotten and no orders lost. We have a pretty good system of tracking everything these days, and the overall quality just keeps on getting better and better..
As long as I don’t allow any more exceptions that is! (we will have to look at some option for fully customized swords that is OUTSIDE the batches so it doesn’t effect them. But for now, please don’t ask for any options that fall outside of what we offer as standard – it has a nasty flow on effect that messes up the system we have developed over the years and hits orders batch wide).
In other custom Katana news, batch 32 is well underway, as are the priority remakes seen above, and there are only 12 more days before batch 33 closes, so as usual we are super busy. But the new Canadian sorting and inspecting team are doing a great job, they go over each sword with a fine toothcomb checking for defects or customization errors – so while it slows things down a bit, the end result is a sword with an unheard of level of QC at this price point. Hard to do, but worth it when we hear from a delighted customer who gets so much more than they expected..
Got to get back to it all – looking forward to getting these straggler batches 30 and 31 all sorted out for everyone. I think you will find, they are worth the wait..
The Kopis is an ancient Greek design, and Cold Steel brings this serious cutter into the 21st century with a tactical rendition designed to inflict maximum zombie carnage.
