Custom Katana Orders Closed for Chinese New Year 2015

Just a very quick update, a few hours ago we closed off on batch 31 of the SBG Custom Katana – however if we were to follow our usual delivery schedule, batch 32 would end up seriously delayed by Chinese New Year Celebrations at the forge in late January 2015 to February.

Rather than have the batch get delayed like this, we have closed off on new orders to allow the forge to concentrate on getting completely up to date up to and including the most recent batch that closed a few hours ago.

Updates will be made accordingly and we will be doing our best to avoid any delays to existing orders – it is theoretically possible that there may be delays, but we have factored the Chinese New Year shutdown into our calculations so we should be fine.

Apologies for any inconvenience to people wanting to get in on a new batch, but we think it is better to pause orders entirely than get a slew of update requests from customers who miss important annoucements, etc.

Thanks for your understanding, more updates to follow soon (at the moment we are finishing off on shipping batch 28 and shipping some swords ahead of schedule on 29, so it is looking good!).

– Paul

Crazy Pre-Christmas Sale Begins, well – now!

As you may be able to tell from the new header on the front page of the store…

Just click the image to add the discount to your cart!

Just click the image to add the discount to your cart!

Right now we are having our post “Black Friday”/”Cyber Monday” sale – 10% off EVERYTHING with the coupon code:

Christmas

Why? Well, originally we weren’t going to. As I have just told all the subscribers to our exclusive store newsletter, we usually simply cannot afford to offer any further discounts as our prices are ALREADY discounted and there really isn’t much margin in functional swords these days (stainless steel junkers are another thing entirely! Big money in that, but those of use who specialize in selling or promoting REAL swords don’t do it for the money, that is for sure).

Anyway, as I have just got through saying to my subscribers – the reason for this sale is quite simple. To paraphrase from the store newsletter:

The last few weeks have seen almost everyone avoiding good old PayPal as a payment processor, and as most of our suppliers prefer to get paid by PayPal I had a choice to make, either pay the exorbitant fees to transfer money from the company account to top up our PayPal balance OR give YOU guys the money instead in the form of a serious, actual discount!

Naturally, I chose the latter option, so from now until midnight Sunday the 7th of December 2014 you can get your Christmas sword shopping sorted, save a small fortune AND help the store out of an annoying cash in-balance..

So that’s the ONLY catch, to get the 10% off until midnight Sunday, you need to purchase via PayPal. The upside, you get a GENUINE discount (we don’t artificially pump up our prices and then use coupons to make it seem like you have saved money when in fact, you haven’t. This is a REAL deal on REAL swords!) and you pretty much are guaranteed to get your sword in time for Christmas.

ESPECIALLY if you order from the special list of Christmas Swords we put together, which are checked daily to make sure they are in stock and ship super fast (excluding weekends, but they will all ship out almost immediately afterwards, taking care of Christmas for 2014).

So what are you waiting for?

Enjoy the savings and apologies but we cannot of course apply the discount to any orders placed before this annoucement has been made or people who for some strange reason don’t see the big banner, read the newsletter or this blog (if you are reading this, I guess it doesn’t apply! But you know what I mean).

Happy Christmas and Happy Non Black Friday/Cyber whatever and talk to you all again soon!

Best Wishes,

Signature

Paul Southren

New Look and Feel..!

I really hadn’t meant to do as much editing to the stores look and feel today, but as I have been messing around with new templates for the SBG Sword Forum trying to make sure that SBG has a recognizable theme across the main site, forum, sword store and sword blog (and the sister site, though there is of course more leeway there) I ended up doing a bit more than I had intended too – overauling both the store and the blog all in one go..! Phew, what a day..!

Anyway, I can’t say whether or not I have achieved a truly uniform “seamless look” across all the relevant sites, but it is close enough I think not for people to wonder “is this part of the same site? Where the heck am I now!” and to try and make navigating from one place to another a little easier and more intuitive..

Hope you like it!

 

Project X Dragon Dao Scratch and Dent Sale

Those lucky few who pre-ordered the stunning Dragon Dao sword by Master Xiaolong are even luckier now than ever before..

As it turns out, the current stock we have available – which is the last time these swords will ever be offered shipping from North America, simply weren’t quite as perfect as they should have been.

Maybe it was just bad luck, as to be honest the quality isn’t really ALL that bad.. But the few imperfections are enough that we cannot comfortably sell them at the already discounted price of US$1,799..

For example, some of the swords have come in with some patina on them from shipping – some people may like the look, others may want to clean it off with some elbow grease. Here is a photo showing the worst of the worst..

I guess you could call it an "antiqued" look

I guess you could call it an “antiqued” look

Also, some of the nice wooden display boxes got damaged in transit – hardly a deal killer, but definitely annoying. Here is what I mean:

It's just a box after all, some are ok, others with a ding..

It’s just a box after all, some are ok, others with a ding..

Swords with these minor cosmetic issues we have designated scratch and dent level one and they are available to be shipped after a quick clean up for $500 less than the usual price..

The second level of cosmetic issues may also have the patina, but also some discoloration of areas of the full rayskin wrapped scabbard like so:

Not pretty, but only there if you look for it. Level 2 Scratch and Dent..

Not pretty, but only there if you look for it. Level 2 Scratch and Dent..

And/or they may also have an annoying scratch that happened during polishing like this:

Tis but a scratch..

Tis but a scratch.. But a scratch that can save you $800!

These details are only really visible if you are looking for them, but are enough to lower the price down $800 and are designated level 2 scratch and dents (just $999.99).

Plus from now until the end of November, you can save another $100 by using the coupon code:

100off

None of the issues are anything but cosmetic and the amount of money we are discounting these by really is more a sense of our own disappointment than anything else..

So what can I say, if you are willing to trade off for a few imperfections to save up to $900 on a sword that, despite these cosmetic flaws are STILL heirloom quality (heck, we could argue that some of them look more like antiques ahead of their time!) – well, you know where to buy them..

Stocks are limited and once they are gone they are gone for good, we took to much of a hit selling the, off at this well below wholesale price – so if you are fast, our misfortune could well be your lucky chance..

Click here for more information

The damage is cosmetic and pretty minor in the grand scheme of things for a sword that is one of the most fearsome two handed cutters EVER seen in North America. And the savings, kind of crazy!

Grab a bargain while you can..

Signature

 

 

New Hanwei Cawood Sword in Stock

A Viking Longship Photo we purchased the rights to use for our background for the Cawood.

A Viking Longship Photo we purchased the rights to use for our background for the Cawood.

It is one of the coolest new swords from the Hanwei forge, and is based on a historical Viking design that currently resides in the Yorkshire Museum and is the best preserved example of a Viking sword currently excavated.

Here is a pic of the actual sword itself which is a hugely popular attraction.

The actual antique Cawood Sword

The actual antique Cawood Sword

And the replica by Hanwei

And the replica by Hanwei

As you can see, the replica by Hanwei is pretty well reproduced, and weighing only 2lbs 7oz and made from 5160 Spring Steel is a truly functional blade that any Viking would be happy to take into battle.

Click here for more info