Don’t panic, Forge Direct Chinese hasn’t gone out of business! But due to circumstances that I will explain in detail at a later date, we need to retool each model and mix things up a bit with a new and better supplier.
But for now, the entire line has been temporarily mothballed and cannot be ordered until we have finished the retooling and overhaul.
Sorry for the inconvenience as we know some swords only just came out, but it needs to be done to improve and maintain QC levels and keep pricing as low as possible (indeed, my hope is when the line does return, the prices will be even LOWER!).
These truly are beautiful blades – this one, the “Kusaboke” is the second sword in this series, the first being the “Matsu”
Both have stunningly well executed differentially hardened 5160 Spring Steel blades and best of breed fittings. Just take a look at the boshi, yokote and clean polished hamon below to get some idea of what kind of quality these swords represent..
And for the complete package..
$329.99 for a bare blade alone like this would be a bargain. But $329.99 for the sword with all iron fittings, cotton ito with hishigami, and high level QC and yeah, I really have no idea how much longer we can keep them at this price..
True enough, technically it’s not a ‘sword’ – though it could be argued it is just a sword with a super long handle! Either way, at $99 it’s a total bargain and looks great for display and is practical for defense.
Classic Tactical Katana style for bargain pricing ($99.99!) it’s a tough, no-nonsense, versatile 1060 carbon steel blade built for whatever you may need it for.
We did our best for as long as we could have, but couldn’t hold the $199.99 price tag on this one any longer.. But even at the new price of $229.99 this extremely accurate and popular WWII Officers Gunto is exceptional value and worth every penny and then some.
MSRP is $500 on this, and considering the blade is 9260 Spring Steel and designed by Gus Trim, well – that’s actually an awesome deal just as it is! We do our best to sell them at SBG for $350, so we go from awesome to incredible. But every few months they drop down to $279.99 – like this month!
As much as I wish there was, there will never be such a thing as the perfect ‘internet’ Katana..
You can take quite a deep dive into the subject and a breakdown of the cost of all the parts, both large and small, over on this article below over on the main site towards the bottom of ‘How Modern Production Swords are Made’ where we break down the individual costs of a $300 sword along with what percentage of the sword comes from each part (each sword and brand is different, but this is a pretty good guideline).
But the gist of it is, for each part to be good, a lot of time and cost needs to go into it. At the high end, traditional smiths work all day with wet finger stones on a single blade for that final layer of smoothness.
But then there are swords were tradition more or less gets thrown out the window and over the years, some very cost effective and practical solutions have been found to make halfway decent barebone Katana for a good price.
But the new Horimono Collection from Ryujin takes value for money to a whole new level..
These are live, practical monotempered 65 spring tempered heavy blades (with false hamon for effect, love it or hate it, it is what it is) but they have several factors that put them close to that ‘perfect internet sword’ I was talking about at the start of this post..
Every innovation over the last 20 years in keeping costs down while still satisfying QC has been put into this new series of 5 unique and cool, very durable Katana with horimono engravings on each blade that some forges in Longquan charge close to the price of the WHOLE SWORD for one of these..
I mean, on a real spring steel blade – this kind of engraving suggests the sword is in the hundreds at least right?
Add to this real iron and brass fittings where nearly every other sub $150 sword uses cheap zinc alloys and wooden gaps showing from scrappy rayskin, loose or fuzzy cotton ito, etc, etc and these 5 new models aren’t just a nice new choice, they revolutionize the kind of tough but still beautiful backyard or dojo beater you can get these days..
And until October 20th, they are priced at truly INSANE prices considering what you get.
Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t perfect, for example some new time saving wrapping methods to ensure tightness and evenness means that you don’t get the much desired alternating ito wrap, the rayskin is synthetic (though it doesn’t repeat, look cheap and is actually sought after by some people who prefer no animal products in their blades). But the blades are solidly tempered 65mn Spring steel, and the engraving alone can cost $80 at some places and it uses fittings normally seen on swords at least two or three times the current price point.
Definitely worth checking out, and available in 5 unique cool styles so far.
MODEL ONE: “Lord of the Seas”
The naval colored ito and sageo with trident riding dragon definitely evokes a powerful naval feel to it, but just looks cool in its own right.
MODEL TWO: “Woodland Warrior”
I love the Dragon in this one, can just imagine it sleekly flying between trees as it hunts down its helpless prey and is complimented with natural brown themed fittings.
MODEL THREE: “Guardian of Fuji”
It’s mostly the tsuba, featuring Mt Fuji that gives this one it’s name, but also something about its Dragon resembles those painted by the likes of Hokusai, and the cool ‘Tiger’ themed black and gold ito wrap just makes this sword stand out.
MODEL FOUR: “Lawless Ronin”
This sword would not have belonged to a servant of the Shogun, that’s for sure. Square tsuba were outlawed at one point during the Edo period, and the colors and general style suggests this would have been the blade of a rebellious and Master-less Ronin.
MODEL FIVE: “Brass Dragon”
Using all brass fittings instead of iron, it’s a classic black Katana that like all the others, is just an absolute steal for the engravings alone..!
Q & A About the Horimono Collection (FAQ):
Are there any other Ryujin Swords that offer that kind of level of value?
Short answer – not really..! The Hatamoto II is also a monotempered 65mn Spring Steel blade – lighter and better balanced with the fittings all iron and hand made the old way and has real rayskin. But it’s $100 more and the blade is essentially the same steel tempered the same way. There’s a 1045 carbon steel blade in wood Shirasaya (pictured below) for $59.99 – but no, there really isn’t any sword with a halfway decent blade and fittings like this anywhere near this price point currently.
How do these compare to the recently released limited edition engraved Katana by Ryujin?
There are several key differences between the Limited Edition Ryujins and the Horimono Collection Swords. Engravings on the Ryujin series are slightly more subtle, but the main difference is the blades are lighter differentially hardened T10 tool steel with a real hamon temper line, use all iron fittings (the Fuchigashira in the Horimono series are brass, which still still VERY good is not quite as desirable as iron) and better quality hand wrapped ito with alternating wrap and real rayskin underneath. Plus the blade is about a half a pound lighter.
However, they are also nearly three times the cost, so just depends on what you like – durable and tough, or refined, more traditional and fast (and if you want one or 3 for the same price).
Crazy how cheap some decent blades are getting these days, only a few years ago you’d be lucky to get a basic 1045 carbon steel sword with zinc fittings for under $100..
But what if I REALLY can’t stand synthetic rayskin handle wraps..
For those of you who can’t get over synthetic rayskin, when you buy a sword under $100, a full wrap would cost $70, so they cut the leftover-bits into panels and slot them into place.
Panels were not uncommon historically, but ideally you want a full wrap to reinforce the tsuka structure, and if you put your biases aside for a moment lets take a look at a typical panel of a sub $200 sword and how there are gaps of wood showing because its so expensive to use, the panel is quite narrow:
Below is the synthetic version – full wrap all the way around for extra strength and a varied, realistic pattern that if it WAS real would cost at least $70 to the base price of a sword.
It’s not cheap and nasty looking, does the job better and helps us make this the sword the bargain that it is. And if that doesn’t convince you it’s worth it, let the savings pass you by..
Anyway, for everyone else who isn’t so worried about synthetics (but will happily buy a sword with rayon tsuka and sageo) – check these and other bargain Ryujin Swords out right here at the SBG Sword Store:
It’s no secret that the sword industry, like many niche industries (and much larger ones too) is struggling right now. I used to report on it in the Sword Buyers Digest but it got too depressing and I did not think it was actually really helping – and the last thing I wanted to do was make it worse..
Anyway, recently you have already seen quite a few casualties. Forge Direct and Project X are about 1/3rd the size they were back in the day, closeouts on new items introduced only a few months ago – and not to freak you out, but it’s likely to get a whole lot worse..
Respected high quality sword making company Kingdom of Arms, made by BCI in the Philippines for Clyde Hollis is sadly forced to reduce his line away from the more exotic blades to more generic sellers as they can’t afford to tie up the money into stock that only appeals to a certain few people (but when it DOES appeal, it’s the sword that they have been searching for)..
These aren’t cheap, but they are made by proud Filipino craftsmen who are finding it increasingly difficult to continue their business, and no doubt in a few years time, these will all be as rare as hens teeth.
