The Oakeshott Type XVIII by Kingston Arms was designed by none other than the Legendary Sword Maker, Angus Trim and made by Kingston Arms out of hard wearing monotempered 9260 Spring Steel for the most durable blade possible.
Gus Trim Design, 9260 Spring Steel, Now Just $249.99
The end result? A particularly well balanced, great handling and almost indestructible blade – now marked down from our already discounted price of $299.99 to BELOW WHOLESALE/COST pricing of $249.99..
I’ve just come back from a short business trip to Vietnam to catch up with my friend and business associate Sam from Ryujin Swords as I documented in the November edition of the Sword Buyers Digest Online Magazine (click here for access to that issue from our backissues section of the main site if you aren’t a subscriber or haven’t seen it already) and so of course have some catching up to do of my own now..
First order of business, update the status of Project X Japanese – which actually went slightly OVER our limit of 30 swords..
Luckily I have caught it in time so we don’t overwhelm the forges limited capabilities to produce these stunning blades – but for anyone who wanted to get in on this round, sorry but we will not be taking orders again until approximately February/March 2020 (or once the vast majority of existing orders have been completed – for real time updates and more information, sign up to the Project X Newsletter).
We have just surpassed the 80% point for Project X Japanese – and last time that happened, the last few spots were gobbled up in a matter of days..
It’s no real surprise that despite the relatively high price tag (which is actually a total bargain, these swords are easily worth at least twice as much as what we are charging for them) – orders for Project X Japanese have been coming in hard and fast over the course of this month. So if you want the good stuff that ‘John West didn’t reject’ – here it is.
At least, for the next few days – after which it won’t be until sometime in 2020 that the next opportunity will present itself..
Don’t miss out..
Forge Direct Japanese – supply and demand issues..
Pitting one forge against another can be good for the sword buyer.
In the case of Forge Direct – a price drop from $899 to $699 for the ‘standard’ Forge Direct Custom Katana (if there is such a thing as a ‘standard’ custom Katana!) – but it can lead to some other issues. Namely, supply not being able to meet the demand.
Since the price drop and special promotions, we have literally been flooded with orders for these swords that are second in quality ONLY to Project X (though the truth is, it’s a little bit subjective too – the main difference is that Project X is an advanced laminate while Forge Direct are simply the best made T10 blades on the market. Period – so it depends on what you like really).
With demand exceeding the forges capacity to supply them and a total refusal to send out an inferior quality or flawed blade for the sake of speed – we are a bit backlogged right now. And there are still some supply chain issues with some of the more exotic hand made or hand painted saya and fitting sets for reasons that are too complicated to go into in this blog post (such as the saya below – it takes time to do something like that by hand)
100% hand painted, art like this takes TIME…
So we highly recommend that if you want to get ahead of the queue you order NOW as the later you leave it, the longer it will take to complete your order.
Either way, these are some of the best blades around for anything NEAR this kind of price. The value for money factor is off the scale, so get in on one or the other while you can..
One of the biggest problems with buying swords online from even established companies like Amazon.com is that not only do they rarely understand much about the products they sell, but pricing is all over the map.
It’s made worse because at the same time there are certain swords out there that LOOK like they might be quite expensive, especially if the seller is unscrupulous. I mean, let’s take a look at the blade below.
If I told you it was 1060 carbon steel, 5160 or 9260 Spring Steel – how do you really know?
Well, the blade above is in fact made from 1045 carbon steel – the most commonly used (and abused) steel the majority of swords made in China are made from. When through hardened and well tempered, they are surprisingly strong.
For example, while its thicker than average, the early Ronin Katana blades were all made from 1045 carbon steel and could chop up a 2×4 with nary a scratch. And so, it’s very easy for a sword seller looking to make a HUGE profit to market these blades as a more desirable steel and lie about what the components are made from or how they are made (i.e. hand painted when they are a stencil, etc). And even when they are honest about the steel, price gouging is not uncommon. For example, the EXACT same sword pictured below (minus the Ryujin name, they call it the – wait for it…
“Hand-Forging Full Tang Spring Steel Blade Sharp Japanese Samurai Dao Sword Katana Dragon Saya Home Decoration Collection Asian Real Knife Saber” (btw, it’s not hand forged, nor is it spring steel).
We sell for $64.99 is nearly DOUBLE the price here at Amazon.com for a mere $125..
As you can plainly see, it’s very easy for a sword seller looking to make a HUGE profit to market these blades as a more desirable steel and lie about what the components are made from or how they are made (i.e. hand painted when they are a stencil, etc) or just charge a premium because they LOOK like they should be sold for over $100, so they charge what they think they can get away with…
SBG has never and never will operate or support this principle. So to help out buyers on a budget get something decent and fairly priced, we have selected what we feel are the best designs from this series we call the Ryujin ‘Art Sword’ collection – which we first introduced with a couple of models in THIS blog post from September 28.
Here are the next 5 swords in the series:
Tsunami Dragon Art Sword – $64.99‘Harui’ Art Sword – $69.99‘Shining Clouds’ Art Sword – $64.99Ninjato Art Sword – $69.99‘Viper’ Art Sword – $64.99
Sure, the blades may not be made of a fancy steel – but they are honest and certainly safer than most other similar blades – especially those that are folded (many cheap swords that claim to be folded are faked – and believe it or not – you are better off if it IS fake when it comes to cheap folded steel blades, but that is a discussion for another time).
Now this is a pretty good deal just as it is. But, especially for our US based customers, we sweeten the deal because if you order any 3 of ANY of the 1045 carbon steel swords on the new Art Sword Page, you get a FREE SHIPPING and a FREE Tanto valued at $29.99.
Get one of two Tanto designs FREE when you order 3 or more 1045 carbon steel blades
It’s going to be a case of the quick and the dead here..
First off, just a quick update on Project X Japanese – right now we are below the 40% mark left for pre-orders, so at that rate it’s pretty likely that all available spots will be taken by the end of the month..
Truly some amazing tweaks to the main designs have been submitted and the forge is already at work making them, so if you are interested in getting a Project X from round 2 – don’t leave it too late as the faster your order comes in, the higher up in the que it is..
Anyway, that’s not what the theme of this post is about. As many of you know, the SBG Custom Katana line recently reached what we think is the point of no return – but we have a few scratch and dent swords that failed QC available for pennies on the dollar – two are one off customs and two are failed QC swords from the Black Dragon Forge which makes the SBG Custom Katana.
Four One Off Scratch and Dents – HUGE discounts, all listed in the HOT SPECIALS section..
Discounts on these are crazy low – and may be the last chance to pick these kind of swords up ever.. (almost all are under $300 with FREE SHIPPING in North America).
Speaking of which, the final sword in the Quick and the Dead Listing – a beautiful basic 1045 carbon steel blade with Dragon engraving on the wood
Just $69.99
Only about a dozen are left and once sold out are gone for good.
Blades are solid and well tempered, and the price is just $69.99 – so if you are into last chance special offers, well – you need to take a close look at this baby..
Check out all these limited availability blades, from the best of the best in Project X to the one off scratch and dents and the closeout sale on the Dragon Shirasaya..
