New: The Ryujin Custom Katana – Bamboo introductory special!

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Over the years, there have been several extremely good value for money swords on the market either called ‘the bamboo’ or with a bamboo themed koshirae set.

So it is only fitting that our latest sub version of the full Ryujin Custom Katana should adopt this tradition as it own – after all, these are some of the best cutting, hard wearing traditional Katana blades you can get on the market for under $300.

But with this special deal, the value for money factor is off the charts.

For just $179.99 you get a T10 tool steel blade with real hamon temper line, your choice of a bo-hi option (for a faster, lighter sword) or a no-hi/solid bodied blade version (for a powercutter), iron bamboo themed tsuba, iron fittings and your choice of 5 different tsuka/handle colors and 7 different saya/sheathes!

PLUS, we are also bringing back the pre-Christmas sale price on our other newest Ryujin custom option sword, the sleek, slimline Aikuchi series custom Katana.

Click here to check them both out in the Ryujin Section of our Store Here

Happy New Year – back to business as usual

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Happy New Year for 2018 – hope that this year is going to be a fantastic one for you all.

We certainly have a lot of new projects coming due this year, from a relaunch of Forge Direct Chinese and Forge Direct Japanese to the beta launch of our Fantasy Swords website and exclusive lines, and much, much more..!

Anyway, just wanted to post a quick note to let you know that almost all the delayed orders from between Christmas to New Years have started moving, shipping companies are back doing their thing and our suppliers have all woken up from a brief holiday rest and we are officially back to business as usual.

Talk to you all again soon!

– Paul

NEW From Kingston Arms, the Renaissance Side Sword

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It has been many years since the sword industry has been robust enough to offer something a bit different than a new Katana, medieval Longsword or even a new medieval arming sword. Almost all other designs simply do not sell well enough for the industry to take a risk..

But Kingston Arms are giving it a red hot go with a new Renaissance Side Sword design based on an Original German sword that ticks all the boxes.

  • It is sharp – and makes for a great cut and thrust design
  • It is robust – 5160 Spring Steel blade with the overall durability Kingston Arms have become famous for
  • It is beautiful – from the partially fullered blade to the complex swept hilt design
  • And it is economical – at $369 – though even more affordable at SBG for just $289.99 and includes FREE SHIPPING!

Truly a stunning, fast and responsive design – this is a must for every sword collector who is sick of seeing the same old same old..

Click for more information

Now if you will excuse me, it is time to get back to my so called vacation.. 🙂

P.S. In addition to this new sword by Kingston Arms, Cas Iberia have restocked a lot of the popular Hanwei Forge Swords by Paul Chen, including one of my favorite cutters due to its speed, low price and extremely keen edge, the $189.99 Chinese Gongfu Dao.. Check out everything that is available in the Hanwei section here – we list all the items that are in stock first and everything out of stock towards the bottom, so no need to scoll all the way down the page unless you really, really want to..

A couple of new Tsuba options from Ryujin

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While I am officially on holidays, there really is no rest for the wicked.. 😉

And with a couple of new additions that I could not help but to update the site and store with that did not quite arrive in time for Christmas as originally expected, I could not resist to add them to our selection of tsuba for the Ryujin Custom Katana series..

Both new designs are more on the traditional and subtle side that the options previously available – widening the appeal of this custom series – the first, a classic Japanese themed bamboo tsuba with real golden gilding appropriately called the ‘Golden Bamboo tsuba’

One side has a plum leaf theme with a sparse plum tree and the other a chrysanthemum and thick golden bamboo shoot giving the tsuba its distinctive appearance and its name.

In Japanese culture, bamboo represents strength, as the roots are so strong as to hold the earth together even in an earthquake, but also has a meaning of prosperity and purity/honesty.

The second is a much plainer design, the Black Crane.

The Crane is a common motif of Japanese, Korean and Chinese culture and in mythology was believed to live for over 1000 years. As such, it symbolizes a long and successful, prosperous life, which in the turbulent life of a Samurai would most definitely be desirable traits!

There is plenty of these in stock, so no problems fulfilling orders for them for at least the next month or so, at which time a general restock is also expected as we have run out of a few of the custom options, but they will all be replenished very soon.

Odin’s Oar Update

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Just a very quick note – in a way I am surprised, but in another considering just how beautiful and downright awesome Odin’s Oar actually is, as of the time of this post 7 of the 10 pre-order slots have been filled and only 3 are left before they are closed off and the next and final batch of 10 become available sometime late in 2018.

The position of available spots left is clearly marked in the product description page, so if you want to be a part of this incredible project, then time is definitely running out much faster than we originally anticipated..