Small restock (and sadly, higher prices again)..

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It is becoming a trend now – with the global supply chain officially and royally screwed, shipping prices at insane levels and higher costs across the board, the price pressure that the sword industry has managed to resist for many years can be resisted no longer – and with each restock, prices are getting nudged upwards every time..

This most recent restock was no exception, and while we have done our very best to absorb as much of the increases as we can – the overflow is significant. However, while the prices have gone up, have a look at the restocked items below to see if you feel that despite higher prices, many still offer great value for money..

Case in point, our ‘generic’ medieval arming sword – previously we squeezed the margins to bring the base model (65mn spring steel blade, peened pommel, steel fittings, leather grip and scabbard) to you for just $184.99..

This price was never really sustainable, and recent price hikes have forced the price up to $229.99 – but if you have a close look and compare it to other similar swords on the market (even those selling ‘older stock’ that has not yet been impacted by the cost increases) you will see it is still definitely great bang for your buck.

65MN Spring Steel Arming Sword – $229.99

This model was hit hardest by the price increases because the original price was simply too low and washed us out when the costs increased above our price… But for the following items in the restock, this time around at least, we were able to absorb most of the increased cost – though for how much longer we can hold prices down remains to be seen..

Giant (nearly 40″ blade) Miao Dao

PRICE $229.99 (+$30)

Han Dynasty Chinese Longsword

PRICE $164.99 (+$15)

Gold Dragon – 1045 Carbon Steel Art Sword

PRICE $69.99 (+$5)

Blue Geisha – 1045 Carbon Steel Art Sword

PRICE $79.99 (+$10)

Despite our best efforts, prices are going to keep ticking up incrementally for the foreseeable future – and with no margins to absorb the costs, I am afraid to say that price increases with each restock cannot really be considered ‘newsworthy’ anymore.. It is, I am sorry to say, the ‘new normal’..

But even with this bad news and higher prices, I think you will agree that we have made sure you always get the very best deal possible – and as the sword market has been under-priced for many years, in this turbulent time, such increases are unavoidable.

New Blades From BCI and Kingdom of Arms

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The joint collaboration between Clyde Hollis of Kingdom of Arms and the skilled artisans at Blade Culture International has certainly experienced some setbacks and delays from Covid-19 related restrictions in the Philippines where these blades are lovingly hand forged. But despite the setbacks and severe understaffing – they have managed to restock at least one of the nicest blades from this venture – and introduce 4 new products (though none are, strictly speaking swords – but certainly will appeal to sword collectors and fans of European history).

The restocked sword is my favorite in the line up so far – a tribute to Fantasy Rangers with their ‘Sword of Strider’

Other new swords were supposed to arrive along with the restock, but only 4 new items were able to be completed in time with the rest coming in hopefully by the end of October.

So without any further ado – here are the new additions:

Viking Scamasax

Designed by Bruce Brookhart, the pictures don’t really do this blade justice – but Bruce’s Video certainly does!

Next up, a very inspired and beautiful Scottish Sgian Dubh (the second model released in their line up) – truly a bargain for such a piece of hand crafted art (just $129).

Sgian Dubh

And then there are the feasting sets – much better quality than anything else similar on the market and great for pumpkin carving this Halloween!

Medieval Feasting Set
Renaissance Feasting Set

Awesome and rare new additions to round out any collection – but the best is yet to come, so stay tuned for more updates accordingly!

Long awaited restock and long dreaded price increases..

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With the long awaited (since around March this year!) and long delayed restock of swords from our friends at Ryujin Swords, including the classic bo-hi and solid bodied blade versions of their standard Shinogi Zukuri Custom Katana series and associated sub swords comes some news that is NOT so welcome..

Long dreaded price increases..

You see, the pandemic has been putting massive upward price pressure on pretty much everything around the world – and we have been warning that swords were not going to be exempt. But with global shipping jammed up and at unprecedentedly high prices, we are completely unable to absorb all of the additional costs and have been forced to raise prices accordingly.

This is not something that we take lightly – we fight price rises at every turn and do our best to absorb additional costs at our end for as long as we possibly can. But while we are absorbing a lot – we cannot afford to shoulder all the additional costs – so while the restock is great news, prices are a little higher on all the restocked swords and components..

While prices are a little higher, the increase is MUCH lower than it should be – but with the holiday season rapidly closing in on us, continued worldwide shipping chaos and spiraling inflation pushing on us we worry that this is just the start of a disturbing new trend.

So grab what you can while the prices are still relatively low (we really went out of our way to bear as much of the cost increase as we could muster), because at the end of the day we just don’t know how long we can hold them down:

Ryujin Swords

P.S. We ALSO have a lot of price pressure on our flat rate $20 shipping for 2 swords and FREE shipping on 3 or more. This is becoming very unsustainable – so do not be surprised if we are also forced to overhaul shipping prices in the not too distant future.

New Swords from Ryujin

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While the industry generally is still struggling to restock and find the ‘new normal’ balanced between supply and demand, we are pleased to show you some brand new (and quite revolutionary) swords from our friends at Ryujin Swords.

First up, an almost perfect entry level traditional Katana from the new Sengetsu (War moon) series.

With tightly wrapped cotton itomaki, solid brass Samurai themed fittings and a beautiful, traditional 1095 carbon steel blade with unenhanced natural hamon – this sword ticks all the boxes, and is amazing value at just $229.99.

The next sword is one of the most unique, standing tall at the head of new releases of the so called ‘Art Line’ of Swords – and boy is this one unique..

With a stunning mix of folded 1045 and 1060 carbon steel it has a very prominent Damascus steel pattern – and a very unique, serrated forge hammered spine – again for just $229.99 (click here to see the pictures, the patterning really is something else).

Following hot on it’s heels, 5 more art swords – but these ones are a bit different..

While most swords under $100 use very cheap wooden saya that are prone to crack and rarely fit as well as they should, the new art swords line uses form fitting, crack and scratch resistant PVC plastic – taking the best of modern manufacturing processes on their line of well tempered, and great value, $69.95 range of 1045 carbon steel blades.

Check them out below:

Check out the full line up below:

Ryujin Art Swords Line

And one last addition to the line up, a sword that pictures really do not do it justice on – the new Ryujin Oxtail Dao with a whopping 30.5″ blade makes it the largest sword of all those listed here today (though it does not look it).

Amazing value at just $199.99

Badlands Katana Version 2.0

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It was the very first sword in Jason Woodard’s Doomsday Series and it stretched the capabilities of Chris Palmer’s small family business forge in every capacity – creating these swords with longer blades that he specializes in. And over time, it became apparent that not every blade leaving his workshop was receiving the benefits of the heat treatment that was the foundation of the toughness his short bladed swords were famous for..

It was a rocky time as swords were recalled, refunded or exchanged. And out of the ashes it rises once again – the Badlands Katana Version 2.0

The remaking of the Badland Katana

After learning that the longer blades were hit and miss in the heat treat department, Jason Woodard went back to the drawing board to redesign his flagship sword. Below is a picture of the original Badland Katana 1.0:

To ensure it had the same basic mass and cutting power, Jason widened and shortened the blade – optimizing it for the cut and creating a unique design that still keeps to the spirit and the cutting power he first envisaged.

After discussing the design features in detail, Chris went to work cutting out the basic shape that would be the template for all future orders of this design – grinding the beveled edge, drilling holes for the multiple steel pins that peg it all together and adding a shallow fuller to the blades spine.

From there it is given a proper heat treatment – something that proved difficult to achieve a consistently good temper with on the original Badland Katana, but is more reliable and predictable when making the shorter blade styles like version 2.0. Below you can see clearly how the steel looks very different where it has been tempered and where it has been left as is to allow for a shock resistant handle.

Once tempered, the sword is cleaned up, refined, polished, sharpened and mounted by pinning and epoxying in Black Mircarta scales on the handle, later bound with deerskin.

I think the end results speak for themselves..

Available to order below, the other previously discontinued swords in the Doomsday line are also in the process of being redesigned and updated, so stay tuned! But in the meantime, check it out below:

Doomsday Badland Katana 2.0