Covid at Ryujin and some sad news at BCI..

First off, I posted earlier on Facebook the very sad news that the father of Blade Culture International Mr. Fernando De Guzman Snr passed away Sunday morning at 4am local time.

Fernando with his son

I had the honor of meeting the man personally, and he was a quiet, humble and hard working type. While he was not well known, his work is – think Kris Cutleries best work, because it HIS forge that made all their acclaimed early blades still in demand to this day and who now make under their own name, Kingdom of Arms and Legendary Swords.

The whole family were so kind and so welcoming. So it is with great regret that I advise of his passing and vow to ensure his legacy and BCI live on.

Ryujin Custom Line temporarily on hold

In other news, first one and now two workers at the Ryujin warehouse have contracted Covid-19 and so the warehouse no longer has enough staff to make the custom Katana series until several weeks later.

Neither of the workers are showing severe symptoms, but 2021 isn’t starting off so nicely and feels a lot like 2020 may go on for years..

We will keep you updated of the situation and wish the workers effected a speedy recovery. Take care out there everyone.

Happy New Year!

And a 5% discount coupon code..

You can almost feel the whole world breath a sigh of collective relief that 2020 is finally over (or at least, in almost every part of the world it’s behind us)..

Unfortunately, just because the year changed does not mean all the issues that plagued 2020 have magically disappeared. Santa put on a heroic battle, but even he could not prevail..

But at least we hope to see some victories against the pandemic and the havoc it has wreaked upon our modern way of life. Vaccines are coming and new and intelligent strategies are being developed, many of which may be of benefit to us all.

But in the meantime, while we are officially closed – a deal to make up for all the expected shipping delays and the fact that we are basically taking some much needed time off.. (mostly, though I find it hard as there are a LOT of new projects being prepared for launch this year)..

To use the coupon, simply enter the items you want to purchase from our store to your cart.

Once you are happy, simply checkout and in the following field enter the coupon code exactly as written.

(or just click the button below to automatically add the discount).


CONDITIONS: Please note that this coupon code is ONLY valid if used at the time of purchase. If you forget to add it, please do not ask for refunds as refusal may often offend.. During this time shipping and email support WILL be slow, hence the discount. Offer may be withdrawn at any time ahead of the stores re-opening.

P.S. The swords above are ‘decorative wallhangers’ through and through, but the photography was stunning and the designs in themselves have some nice points. The fish tail pommel, wire wrapped sword in particular would not be bad if it had a strong, matching guard and real blade.

THE OFFICIAL SBG SWORD STORE

Officially closed, but working harder than ever!

While we may have officially closed off on the 20th of December, there are still too many emails that need answered, deliveries that need to be double checked and fixed and a ton of things needed before I can begin to partially unplug for Christmas day..

Santa’s Elves are proving no use as usual..

And so it’s up to me to give the year one last push to try and get across the Christmas finish line. And to do so, while at this stage we normally bow, out – this time we are offering two last minute ‘Christmas Savers’*

Both are from RYUJIN SWORDS and feature the classic differentially tool steel blades they are famous for. But the savings are out of this world..

First up – the KUROKENSAI (Black Sword Saint) which has a solid bodied blade, solid Iron Muashi tsuba and all black fittings.

And the next one is the last few of a final closeout sale from the Ryuin pre-assembled series. While the KuroKensai is all black, the Yukizuna is it’s polar opposite – with all WHITE fittings.

Now because Christmas is only days away, international orders are out of the question. And unless you live very close to California, then it’s a risk to ship using standard ground shipping. So we have added an option for 2 night express for an additional $35. (No longer optional)

We cannot guarantee that it will make it in time, but this is your best shot – and the prices, too good to ignore..

P.S. Did you see the 10% discount on the entire Kingdom of Arms Series? There is less than 24 hours to go..

Check out their line up here

My favorite from their series so far – probably their Sword of Strider

Or the Gladius, Falcata and range of Knightly Swords from the Crusading orders of the Teutonic Knights and the Templars..

Well, time to continue my ‘holiday’ – about 100 odd emails to get through so will work through the night and see how we look tomorrow!

P.S. In an edit I noticed that in the coupon the sale expired on the 23rd of September 2020..! I meant December of course, shows how much I need a REAL break..

Quick Pre-Holiday Update

As you know, it’s officially less than 24 hours before we close up for the year. It doesn’t mean that we stop working entirely, indeed we will still be on board for the week leading up to Christmas to get orders out as fast as possible and we may have a last minute surprise or two.

So as is often the case with SBG we don’t ever really take a ‘switch off all the lights and go home’ style holiday..

But just before we finish up for 2020 – there is one last addition I have been pushing for for over 2 years now for the Ryujin Custom Katana line..

BLACK ITO WITH BLACK RAYSKIN!!

Yes, that’s right – one of my favorite historical tsuka ‘color’ combinations, black ito over black rayskin is now available to use to make a dark themed Katana (or iaito)!

It’s only available on the Katana and the iaito series at the moment, but it opens up some very cool design opportunities and I for one am very excited to see it added to the line up!

2020/2021 Holiday Schedule

From Sunday the 20th of December to Monday the 11th of January 2021 the SBG Sword Store will be officially on vacation.

By officially on vacation, what this really means is that we will still have a skeleton crew working and I will also be checking in every few days to make sure nothing too urgent has popped up – otherwise I will be using the time for working on other aspects of the site (there is always so much needed to be done at SBG, there really is no time for a totally ‘unplugged’ holiday – not that I mind that much. I love what I do!).

Anyway, as we get closer to Christmas we are already seeing an increase in shipping damage and rough handling, so if you have not got your Christmas sword shopping sorted yet – time is up, you need do something about it now before it is too late..

As we get closer to the official store holiday period I may dig up a few specials specifically designed to ship fast in time for Christmas for anyone who has indeed left it to the last minute.

Anyway, hope you have some holidays coming to you soon – here’s hoping 2021 will be a better year than this one.. (would not be hard!).

Seasons Greetings,

  • Paul Southren