Just a quick update for those customers from batch 17 who have been waiting patiently for the boxes to be made, even though they were a day late with it I am pleased to advise that the boxes are FINALLY made and that some tracking numbers will be issued to everyone shortly (though it may be a day or two after Christmas).
Thanks for your patience – I’ll be in touch with everyone individually soon.
– Paul
This is definitely extremely frustrating – the last few batch 17 Katana are stalled due to a very annoying issue..
While most swords have been shipped out, a couple of weeks ago we ran into a problem with the shipping boxes. As you probably know, the swords are shipped within a form fitting styrofoam box shown below:
The problem is that we also need to ship this box with an external cardboard box, but the company that makes them for us ran into a delay and then seemingly got overwhelmed by the general Christmas rush, so the most recent update we have is that the boxes will be ready by the 22nd of December..
To say this is extremely frustrating is an understatement, and while we have shipped or are in the process of shipping several swords that were intended as Christmas presents via Express on our dime to cover it, the last few are still stalled and all we can do is keep pushing this company to hurry up and deliver the boxes..
Anyway, I truly am sorry for this delay – we are doing our best and once all the smoke has cleared I’ll be looking at some ways to try and offer something more tangible than just an apology to everyone who ended up waiting longer than expected.
– Paul
Just a quick update, the Dojo Pro Line has been added to the store and until the 20th of December you can get one in time for Christmas in the USA with free 3 day select shipping!!
Otherwise, I think that most of the other products in the store are unlikely to make it in time for Christmas, so if you are looking for a last minute bargain – this is definitely it!
Just a quick post to let everyone know that after a loooong time of running low on stock (or in the case of Ronin, no stock!) both Cheness and Ronin restocked within the last 24 hours and there’s some great news for both of them..!
Cheness are 100% restocked on their entire range of swords, including of course the infamous SGC Yamakami Katana (which has been out of stock for perhaps 5 months?) and one of my favorite traditional Katana of all time, the Kaze Katana (which I think has been out of stock around 2 months)..
They also have introduced the choice of a bo-hi or no-hi (solid bodied blade) on their range of Tenchi Ko Katana and the Tenchi Wakizashi so now you can get a Tenchi Daisho set (full length Katana and matching shortsword) in whichever configuration you prefer.
At the same time, Ronin Katana have their entire range back in stock with the NEW swords that I mentioned starting to be listed within the next 24-48 hours, though for now the super cool Ko Katana and the O-Katana (pictured below) have been listed, and of course models 1-7 are finally back in stock..! (its been a looong while, maybe 6 months!).
It seems that the Ronin swords are getting even BETTER than ever, with much better kissaki shaping and sharpness than ever before. You can see what we have so far here (more swords being added shortly).
While it is a bit disappointing that these swords are arriving so close to Christmas, and as such may not be able to make it in time for Christmas (depending on how close to you are to the warehouses – San Diego for Cheness and Texas for Ronin) some models may well sell quite fast so it is recommended to get in over the next few weeks if there is a particular sword that you have been waiting for as the next restock will not be for quite some time (and Cheness in particular will be closing their warehouse for 3 weeks in mid-January for a much deserved vacation, so the sooner you get an order in the better).
Another update coming soon but it’s definitely nice to have some stock again as I really was starting to feel like mother hubbard there for a bit..!
– Paul
Things have been SOOOO busy the last couple of weeks that while there has been a lot going on, I simply haven’t had time to update it all properly! But as there have been some very newsworthy things going on, an update is defintely due..!
First off, we are now completely out of stock on the Dojo Pro Katana – however even though it will be too late for anyone who wants one of these to give (or indeed receive) as a Christmas present, new stock plus all the new models mentioned in a previous blog update should land sometime around the 15th of December, and if you saw some of these models you’ll know we are all in for a treat..
Cheness Cutlery are also pretty low on stock at the moment, with only a handful of models in stock but their restock should be coming in towards the end of the month (again too late for Christmas darnit! Lol).
But with all this talk of Christmas, plus the fact that we have almost zero stock of anything at the moment (as you may know, the SBG custom Katana orders closed quite some time ago too) we decided to partner up with Hanwei again and offer a truly amazing deal on one of their recently discontinued Raptor models..
As this unique model has been discontinued in favor of more generic designs, this is indeed your LAST chance to own what is effectively the earliest style of ancient Katana – in time for Christmas and at an exceptional price. PLUS it is also available with Ricky Chen’s exclusive sharpening service for an additional $59.95 – taking it to a whole new level at a total price that is STILL well under what it normally sells for (plus free shipping, and a free DVD!).
Check it all out in our Hot specials section here
And for those of you who are interested in something a little more exclusive, along with batch 17 we also received a special order we placed with the forge for some SBG exclusive blades – the first one has leather ito, a rattan wrapped saya and solid bodied, T10 tool steel blade as below:
And the second one is FOLDED T10 tool steel with real hamon, bo-hi, copper fittings with real silver and gold plating, and a battle wrap tsuka as follows:
Both are available on the main page of the store and also listed in the SBG custom section (for obvious reasons) – but you can also read some more about them and see some larger pics over at the dedicated SBG Custom Katana blog (which of course also gives you the most up to date information how things are going with the forging of batch 18 and final deliveries of batch 17).
Still have quite a few emails to get around to so had better wrap this up. Post again soon..!
Paul Southren
(C) Sword Buyers Guide Limited 2022