Just a very quick update to the previous post about the new special limited edition deal on the Aikuchi Custom Katana by Ryujin. It seems that the light gold tsuka option proved to be too popular for the stock available and has sold out and no longer available.
All existing orders are okay, but we cannot take any more – so apologies for any inconvenience.
With Christmas just around the corner, and our earlier sale of the Ryujin Musashi Tsuba running out of stock over a week earlier than we had planned, here is our FINAL offer for 2017..
And, as you might expect, it’s a GOOD ONE – a BRAND NEW, limited edition Custom Katana – this time the sleek lined Aikuchi Custom Katana Christmas Special which would normally be between $229 – $269, but is now on special until sold out for a ridiculously low $179.99..
An Aikuchi Katana is basically a slim lined blade without a tsuba – and in this case, it is made visually interesting by the use of a new set of solid brass tsunami wave themed fittings that don’t NEED a tsuba to look fantastic..!
Here are a couple of pics that show you what I mean..
The detailed brass Fuchi with tsunami theme and natural T10 tool steel hamon these swords are famous for
The tsuka and Kashira, also solid brass with the same tsunami wave theme
As stock of these new tsuka are limited (and indeed, almost everything but the blades is running out right now) and with Christmas only just around the corner (especially when you factor in shipping delays and bottlenecks at this time of year) the SOONER you order the better..
While it usually takes up to a week for the workshop to assemble and ship your custom Ryujin order, right now it is all hands on deck and the turnaround time now is typically no more than 2 business days! So there is time, but if you want a custom sword in time for Christmas, you really do need to step on it before it is too late..
And one final bonus – you also get your choice of one of four deluxe sword bags that we usually sell in the accessories section of the store for $19.99 absolutely free!
This will be the last major offer in the lead up to Christmas, as by the end of this week if you haven’t ordered a sword in time for Christmas, it probably isn’t going to make it in time..
So get these while you can – the last sale ran out very quickly, and with the hot looking design and style, like the previous offer they can be withdrawn from sale at any time..
Ryujin T10 Custom Katana – Aikuchi Limited Edition Christmas Special
This is a sword for the collector who ‘has everything’..
The MASSIVE Taotie Jian by Dragon King – one of the largest swords around with a total length of 4′ 3″!
Here is a comparison of side by side with a normal Chinese Jian (29″ blade).
But it is the weight and the handling that will blow you away – for despite all that size, this high carbon steel beast weighs just 2lbs 6oz! In other words, it is terrifyingly fast and can keep pace with a standard Jian while keeping the opponent well out of harms way..
Add to this the super thick (3/8″ thick!) 7″ ricasso and it can absorb even the heaviest attack without fear of damage.
And from now until Friday the 15th of December it is not $819 but HALF PRICE with FREE SHIPPING at just $409.50, making it the perfect Christmas gift to blow away the collector who thinks they have seen it all..
I mentioned it a little over a week ago in my post ‘less products? Well, yes..’ but now the transition that I touched on is complete.
Until about a week ago we had a few swords in stock that were NOT sharpened in any way, notably those by Darksword Armory and a few training blunts by Kingston Arms and Hanwei. But as we often get asked the same questions, and many people seemed confused about what was sharp and what was not, we decided to remove EVERY sword that was unsharpened, so now every blade comes sharp by default.
In the case of Darksword Armory, we also reorganized our listings – focusing entirely on their fantasy sword lines, as very few other companies make decent battle ready fantasy swords, and it is something that I feel Darksword is quite unique in.
But as we also had a lot of confusion about Darksword products, I have decided that we will ONLY offer a sharpened version, and only offer the ones with the upgraded scabbards with integrated sword belts and suspension systems.
As to the sharpening itself, it has got a LOT better after many complaints over the years and is the main reason why we stopped offering it. But now, every sword is given a paper cutting test before it is shipped out – so this was also part of the reason why we were confident to be able to offer sharpened versions again.
And we are also delighted to be able to bring back one of their most POPULAR fantasy swords, the stunning Lord of the Rings inspired Anduril Sword!
Click here for more information
As part of the store tidy up and re-organization, we also changed the navigation to make things easier to find, collapsed a few categories of swords into broader ones (such as we moved all the Viking swords into the European/Medieval section – after all the medieval period is generally defined as a thousand years between the 5th and 15th centuries) and hopefully just made the site easier to use and understand, especially for first time visitors.
As a final note, if you have not wrapped up your Christmas sword shopping yer I STRONGLY recommend you do it as soon as possible. The closer we get to Christmas, the more chaotic shipping becomes, and the higher the chance that someone, somewhere will screw up an order and there may not be time to correct it before the grand unveiling.
That’s it for now, talk to you all again soon!
– Paul
On the heels of the good news about the long awaited restock of the Euro line of Swords by Ronin Katana, there is some bad news for fans of the Forge Direct Japanese line..
I have mentioned the crux of the issue in the December issue of the Sword Buyers Digest Online Magazine, and in even more detail on this thread on the SBG Sword Forum – but for those of you playing at home..
Basically, there have been some major changes to production of sword components over in China due to (valid) pollution concerns, and all the tsuba and koshirae you see that are made from zinc alloy, brass or copper with gold and silver inlay are – simply not available anymore and are no longer in production until new suppliers set up new, eco friendly factories.
I can’t argue with the need for this, and in the long run, its a good thing. But in the short term, it means that all the koshirae (sword fitting sets – Tsuba, Fuchigashira) like those pictured below to the left are no longer an option..
However, iron Sukashi tsuba are usually made in house by the large sword forges (and the forge who makes our swords for Forge Direct are certainly one of those). So in short, we needed to pull the entire product line and allow them time to re-tool, make new tsuba and see where we are up to over the coming months.
As mentioned, existing orders are all okay – but we can’t take any new ones for the time being.
I will keep you all posted as new developments occur.
(C) Sword Buyers Guide Limited 2022