Our fellow sword brothers and sisters around the world have had a very hard time the last couple of years – at it’s worse, we closed down every single Non North American shipment earlier this year. But the time has come to re-evaluate the situation.
At the end of the day, there are a handful of countries that still allow USPS (United States Postal Service) shipments – so we have added in most of the countries that we could ship to before.
But more than just this, we are also in the process of updating the page on Forwarding Services, as we have found a few that seem ‘weapon’ friendly, or at least tolerant.. But we need more information, more feedback from International buyers who purchased within the last 3 months or so on the SBG Forums and Facebook.
So please, help us to help you guys and let us know your country, what the item was and how it all went..
Will a solution be found? Well, the time has come to try our hardest.. So please share this information with every Non North American sword collecting friend so they can weigh in and we can, it is hoped, get the clearest picture of where we are up to now and where things are headed..
Only catch is, right now we only have the bo-hi version – solid bodied blade is still a way off.
But there is some more good news, almost all the components are also restocked – including the saya. BUT with the saya, there have been some color changes – some quite signficant – so every image has been updated to avoid confusion and disappointment.
SIDE NOTE AND SHAMELESS PLUG: I think this constant stock updating, close communication with the warehouse, best price prices and life time guarantee against breakage – we are the most sensible place to buy Ryujin Swords and receive them as quickly as we promise. Other sites that sell them have lots of hidden costs and sell stuff that they don’t have in stock, sometimes even offering items that haven’t been made yet! So in short, by keeping up to date and offering the best service and prices, yeah – it would be silly to buy them anywhere else..
– Paul Southren
But I digress, back to the saya.
Here are all the updated colors – most haven’t changed so much, but gun metal grey, forest green and a few others just don’t look anything like they used to:
Of course, this also means that other semi-custom Katana have also been restocked. So check out the full range and click the link below:
Sometimes, things just keeping getting harder and harder.
First there was the Chinese New Year shut down, then the Covid-19 worldwide lockdown that resulted in the forges sitting idling for months longer than we ever expected..
Eventually, the forges began to re-open, but component supplies were and still are behind production schedules and international shipping ground to a halt (for a short time, it looked ok, but then all the orders bounced back at customs)..
FINALLY, things are starting to look more ‘normal’ and the forges are running at maximum capacity and slowly we are catching up on the extended backlog (though shipping costs have increased dramatically, literally sucking most of the humble profits out of all this years orders).
However, the backlog is still too large for my liking. Some component makers are STILL playing catch up, and so to ensure the forges focus their full attention on completing all the outstanding orders, we have no choice but to temporarily halt taking any and ALL new orders until we are properly caught up again.
Unfortunately, this also means that Project X Japanese has been pushed back yet another month or two – from a planned round of orders in February now looking likely to begin – well, who really knows right now..
Halting new orders is going to hurt both our and the forges bottom line – but at the end of the day, existing customers come first – and personally I just can’t keep taking orders until we have the backlog properly under control..
We will keep you updated as the backlog begins to look more manageable – in the meantime, our apologies for the inconvenience.
As we alluded to in the previous post, we have a LOT of new cool items about to hit the shelves at the SBG Sword Store. Here’s MY favorite (and its a great deal too, buy the big one, get the small one free!)..
Yes, it is the WORLDS LARGEST Wrench/Folding Knife Combination by one of Sam Sung, the owner of Ryujin Swords, Companies – S-TEC. I mean seriously, for $142 every Dad deserves one of these in his man cave (and it also comes with a smaller EDC version here for just $30 if you buy it by itself or FREE with every order of its big brother).
With that beast out of my system, here’s another by S-TEC, the most basic carbon steel chopper around with a price tag to match it ($19.99)
And then they offer what is perhaps my favorite type of knife next to a Tanto – the South East Asian Karambit with quick draw system (patent pending) for just – $24.99!
But if you like this basic entry level Karambit and want to get serious, another one of Sam’s companies – DEFCON – has you covered with the RAPTOR Karambit, available in Black or Bronze Finish.
EVERYTHING about these two blades screams premium quality – from the tempered CPM S35-VN w/ Silicon Nitride Coating blade to the milled 6AL4V Milled Titanium + Forged Carbon handles and smooth as silk cage bearing reinforced lock bar at $246.95 it’s worth every penny, and even better at our special price of just $185.95.
But we haven’t finished with our latest knifes just quite yet – for there is one more brand from Sam that spans the middle ground between S-TEC and DEFCON called Proelia.
My personal favorite, this little hard to classify D2 tool steel folder called the TX927 for $34.99 (which incidentally is a great price for properly tempered D2). But I have a soft spot for their interpretation of a Tactical folding Tanto, again D2 tool steel and again a bargain at $74.95.
That about catches us up with the knife expansion (well, we also quietly added a classic – the Hanwei Practical Plus Tanto for $194 here). After all, it was easy enough to list as we added not one but three new Hanwei Forge swords to the store – all Classics in their own right.
The first two are swords that are almost universally acclaimed by the community as worth every penny and then some, but are so rarely in stock in some cases nearly a decade has passed since they were last made available. But here they are, fresh stock straight off the boat of two swords that if you DON’T know about them, you owe it to yourself to have a look..
First up, the Banshee – an evolved, tactical version based on the Burmese Daab and a pattern typically found throughout what was once called ‘Indochina’ (Siam, Kampuchea, Burma, Laos, etc). But it’s really well made, incredibly good fun, and a steal at just $189.99.
But if you want to go beyond a steal and get a HEISTS worth of value, try this on for size – the Dark Sentinel!
Mixing elements of the Swiss Saber with the Japanese Katana, it is a solid performing cutting blade that tends to last for years and years without barely a scratch. And no, the $124.99 is NOT a typo..
And then one of Hanwei’s latest products, a special re-release of the Classic Tiger Katana designed by Paul Chen
Truly a sword we can strongly recommend – from the imported Japanese cotton ito to the brass leaf inlaid saya and absolutely stunning Swedish Powder Steel blade with real hada and hamon.. A tad expensive at its full price of $1650, but right on the money for $999.99 – you get your money’s worth and then some..
Well, hope you found something of interest for Dad this year.
PLEASE NOTE: While we will do our best to ship as fast as possible, orders placed now are NOT guaranteed to make it in time for fathers day. The sooner you get your order in, the better..
Fathers day is this Sunday the 21st of June, and believe you me, it will be upon us sooner than you can say ‘where the heck did that week go?’.
Behind the scenes, we are preparing a real bonanza of fathers day gifts for blade lovers of all types – and we sure have some REAL surprises coming up that are guaranteed to delight even the most jaded blade and sword enthusiast..
But to kick things off, we have a time sensitive offer that may not make it in time for the newsletter – as the special offer coming from the distributor ends this Thursday the 18th of June, and is just too cool to let it pass by without giving you guys a chance to grab the discount we are passing on from the master distributor.
So what is this mystery blade?
It’s name is ‘Whisper’ by Kizylar Supreme, designed Jason Breeden, Made in Russia – and is a fusion blade of East and West, a Russian take on the Japanese Tanto, the perfect blend of tradition and pragmatism.
We hate to use the word ‘super steel’ but if you are familiar with Bohler M390 steel you will know it is about as close as it can get for a knife. Evey aspect of this blade uses the best modern technology has to offer: blue/black layered 3d milled G10 scales and until the 18th, you can get it for just $147.99.
In the meantime, the closeout sale on Kizylar Supreme is still ongoing – with a collection of amazing quality Russian made knives on closeout from just $61 to $75 tops!
Stay tuned for more blades coming this week – but this is one of the nicest, so don’t wait too long and let it pass you by. There are less than 3 days left on this special, and stocks are limited with no rainchecks possible.
