Sword Buyers Guide Blog

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The Sword Buyers Guide Blog is designed to keep you totally up to date and let you know whenever any new pages appear on SBG, as well as when any old ones are modified (to keep up with any recent trends or changes) - not to mention highlighting some cool pages you simply might have missed before...

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Lots going on..!

I haven't had much time to update the news blogs or anything recently as I am busy finalizing all the SBG custom Katana orders from batch 18 and working to try and get the balance of batch 17 out to their owners/designers, plus a ton of other things mentioned in the Christmas edition of the Sword Buyers Digest (click to read it online) so for everyone waiting for something, bear with me - the wheels are turning full speed and I'll be updating everyone shortly!!

In the meantime, if you haven't already read it I do recommend you have a look at this months issue of the digest as it is choc full and contains some, er, "Christmas Eggs" - Easter Eggs at Christmas - plus a guide to the best buys for the season, cool videos, articles, and more!

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Blogs, blogs, blogs!

It seems that for one reason or another I have gone a little 'blog crazy' the last few days..

First off, as we are literally only DAYS away from opening up on new orders of our famous SBG Custom Katana I decided now is a good time to ressurect the old SBG custom Katana blog

But while I was at it, I thought why not update the SBG Store News page - so I created yet another blog to showcase everything that is going on at the store (and there is a lot) which you can check out here

I'll be tweaking the blogs as I go, but for now have a look and see what you think!

That's all from THIS blog for now (I guess you could call this the 'Master' Blog?) - talk (or should I say blog) to you all again soon!

- Paul

News and Updates

I've been getting some great feedback on the November issue of the sword buyers digest (of which, if you are not a subscriber, you can read online here) with regards to our featured article and our guide to pre-Christmas sword shopping, so if you haven't seen this issue I highly recommended you do so..!

This month is going to be a busy one, there are several major SBG projects going on at the moment (several of these mentioned in the newsletter, and several others that are still yet to be revealed at all) so its worth keeping an eye on..

I'll be posting again soon, but in the meantime I hope you will enjoy this months issue

- Paul

Quick Update

Below you'll find a couple new reviews, one of an ebay tanto and the other a quick overview of the Hanwei Tori XL (which between these two reviews, cover both the low and the high price range of the production Japanese style blade market!) so check them out and keep the reviews coming guys!

You'll find more bits and pieces, including an excellent article on tactical swords in this months issue of the Sword Buyers Digest which is of course a must have read in preperation for the imminent Zombie onslaught that is commonly known as 'Halloween'... ;-)

Review - Wang Katana (Ebay) Tanto

As promised, here is a review of the Wang Katana (Ebay seller) tanto. Keep in mind I have purchased this as a practice piece, to obtain tsukamaki skills,

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Tori XL Light

I purchased this katana for my collection and not for a cutter as it was built for. I have a less expensive sword for that. The Tsuka wrap is a black

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Musashi shirakawa 1060 DH katana with burgundy saya

Hi everyone, So it was my birthday last month and to treat myself I purchased the musashi shirakawa series 1060 differentialy hardened dragon katana with

Permalink -- click for full blog post "Musashi shirakawa 1060 DH katana with burgundy saya"

NEW Add a Review Feature

As mentioned in the September edition of the Sword Buyers Digest (which you can read online here), this month has seen a new feature added to the site whereupon ANY site visitor can submit a sword review

While this feature is in its infancy, over the coming months - especially as new reviews are submitted - it will be rolled out onto every page, providing additional resources to the sword community (plus it also features a dynamic comments section, where further discussion of the review can be made in a kind of 'semi forum' kind of atmosphere).

As new reviews are added they will be listed in the blog, but in the meantime - lets start to build up the new database of reviews, so if you have a sword and want to give your $0.02 on it, here's your chance!

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handmade ninja-to designed by master park

This is my first review plus I'm doing it on a smart phone so if its a little sloppy, I apologize. I am reviewing the munetoshi ninja-to. Now I know the

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A quick trip away

Hi all,

As mentioned in this months issue of the Sword Buyers Digest (which you can read online here by the way) I'm heading back to Australia until around the 16th or so to recharge my batteries, tie off a few loose ends and otherwise prepare for the rest of the year (because as mentioned, there will be some big and very positive changes ahead, and I've been SOOOO busy of late I really do need to take some time off for a little bit).

The last issue was a little bit rushed to make the deadline as I was also handling batch 17 of the SBG custom Katana, and one notable mistake was that I offered the Hattori 2204 Katana as a special, while in fact this sword has actually been discontinued! (see? THIS is why I need a short 'vacation'! Lol).

To make up for this I have instead decided to offer a special on the equally (if not more) stunning model 2202 - which you can see pictured below (click on the image for more info).

Anyway, this plus every other Katana is currently available with a 5% discount by entering the coupon code August 2011 in exchange for waiting until I am back around the 16th before any orders ship.

Apologies for any inconvenience, but I do need to take this trip for a whole host of reasons - however I am really also looking forward to getting back to Japan and taking things to the next level!

Talk to you all again when I am back and thanks for bearing with me.

- Paul

Better Late Than Never..

Yes, yes - I know - another late update.. ;-) But as the title suggests, better late than never - and this post has some pretty important news..

It is THAT time of year again, or should I say, THAT time of year is nearly over..

We are now in the final 24-48 hours of accepting new commissions for the SBG Custom Katana Series - orders have been coming in hard and fast since we opened up on new commissions a few days ago, and at this point we only have just a little more room to squeeze in a handful more orders before we need to close off, batch them up and send the orders to our forge to be completed.

Right now I am dedicating the next two days to processing any and all email enquiries to make sure than anyone who has an unanswered question gets a chance to get a decent answer and an opportunity to get in on this batch as the next one will not be open until November, so if you are waiting for an email response from me please just bear with me a little longer - I am doing my best (sending something like 200 emails a day, my fingers seriously need shockabsorbers on the tips!).

I do have quite a bit more news to report to everyone, but had to get this information out there first - not sure if there will be time as I also need to write next months issue of the Sword Buyers Digest so I'll probably just have to put it all in there (you can sign up for the free newsletter in the link above).

Okay, too much to do and not enough time! I feel a bit like the mad hatter running around a clock, but I'll have another coffee and plough on ahead! ^_^

I'll blog again sometime after the newsletter goes out, so talk to you all again soon.

- Paul

An Overdue Update!

Hi everyone,

Definitely somewhat overdue for an update here - I've been so busy just keeping things going that I haven't had the time to put pen to paper (or rather, fingers to keyboard) for sometime now so need to cover quite a bit in this quick post.

The easiest and quickest way you can get up to date with what has been going on with SBG is to read this months edition of the Sword Buyers Digest Online here (plus the feedback from this issue so far suggests that it is at least a somewhat interesting read in its own right).

Otherwise though, I have been trying to handle a slew of daily emails and finalizing batch 16 of the SBG custom Katana with a view to opening up on new orders early in the week (fingers crossed) - plus listing a very exciting new line up of the acclaimed Ronin Katana Dojo Pro Series

Plus I should also mention that right now we have some great offers available in the Hot Specials section of the store that are well worth a look, so despite the apparent lack of updates, as usual there is a lot going on behind the scenes.

Anyway, check out the links and I'll make another quick post here when we are ready to open up on new orders for the custom Katana - in the meantime I've got several hundred emails to catch up on (phew, better install those shock absorbers in my fingertips!).

Talk to you all again soon.

- Paul

Competition, Donations and Store Stuff

Hey all,

Update time, you may have noticed my most recent review added to the site of the Samurai 3000 Sword below - but there has been a lot more than that going on at SBG (though not all of it is good news I am afraid)..

For the last few months SBG has been really struggling to keep itself funded, so much so that as of this moment we are dangerously close to the razors edge (pardon the pun, even in adversity it seems my very tacky sense of humour kicks in as usual!) - and while I'm confident we will make it through the otherside, SBG could use your help..

To this end, I've created a new 50/50 split competition where for every $10 you donate to the site you get one ticket to enter the draw to win half of all the donations entered this way as store credit at the SBG sword Store (to be drawn randomly on the 20th of May).

Click here to make a donation and/or buy a 'ticket'

Plus, another way you can help - and get something VERY cool in the process is by checking out what's just been added to the SBG Sword Store in our Store News Section here - some pretty exciting additions I think..!

Thanks folks!

- Paul

Samurai 3000 Plasmium Sword Review

Paul Southren's hands on review of the Samurai 3000 Plasmium Fantasy Sword by United Cutlery

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Quick Update

Hi All and Greetings from Japan!

I know I said I would update the SBG blog as soon as I was back online, but getting used to working exclusively from my laptop, settling in over here and everything else meant that by the time I had answered the days emails and done everything else in the day to day running of the site I was never able to find the time to make this belated post - anyway, here it is - lol..!

I've been fairly busy with the site since coming here so haven't had much time to do any real 'siteseeing' (unless you count SBG that is!) which is a bit of a shame really, but as SBG is a full time endevour its the price I have to pay..

But that said, I was able to take a short trip to the Osaka History Museum whereupon I was ambushed by a group of around 10 Japanese museum staff and volunteers who dressed me up in a 8th century Osaka outfit that I really can't pull off very well..

Anyway, also wanted to post a quick update on the SBG Custom Katana, batch 15 are well on their way now and I am just waiting on the tracking numbers to be compiled together and I'll be sending out an update on batch 16 sometime next week with the view to trying to accomodate the demand for these swords on a more ongoing basis - we don't make much money on them but with the way things have been for SBG we need every dollar we can get to keep the lights on (and of course, no matter what happens, all existing orders will be honored!).

So yes, hope you'll all continue to support the site - it's business as usual for our warehouses and the SBG Sword Store so I hope you'll all continue to support the site that supports the sword community and do your bit by buying a cool sword from my personal selection at the very best prices we can muster!

I have a couple more reviews that I will be working on over the next week or so too, so stay tuned!

Talk to you all again soon.

- Paul

Second Japan Trip

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update - I'm in transit to Japan again shortly and there may be a slight delay getting back to everyone's emails and processing orders from the SBG Sword Store until I am settled in properly on Tuesday or Wednesday the 30th (sadly there is no internet access while in transit, and the first place I am staying before I move into an apartment in Osaka also doesn’t have internet access, though I will be making up for it as soon as I get it back either on Tuesday or Wednesday).

Anyway, I’ll update the blog again as soon as I am back online so talk to you all again then.

Thanks all,

- Paul

Cold Steel Katana Machete Review

The Cold Steel Katana Machete Review by Paul Southren reveals a very strong, but perhaps not so sharp blade that despite this is just what the doctor ordered for the casual backyard cutter

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Ancient Chinese Swords - Jin Shi's Han Dynasty Jian Reviewed

Paul Southren's hands on review of one of the ancient Chinese swords made by Jin Shi Trading, the Han Dynasty Jian, a replica of a two handed sword from this period

Permalink -- click for full blog post "Ancient Chinese Swords - Jin Shi's Han Dynasty Jian Reviewed"

Thanks for your support guys...

I just wanted to give a big thank you to all the kind people who have emailed me over the last few days expressing their concern for my 3 year old daughter Lana who lives in Japan with my ex-wife...

I am pleased and greatly relieved to say that she is quite far away from where the drama of the past few days has been unfolding. Though of course I am concerned about the events still occuring there (though not enough to postpone my upcoming trip) but I am deeply touched by the kind emails I have been receiving from site visitors, friends and customers and cannot express how much this means.

Since there is not a lot I can do about the situation, I am choosing to immerse myself in the site - and am pleased to say that I have FINALLY been able to complete another long overdue review that I will be loading up on the site in the next few hours, so hope you guys enjoy it!

Thanks again folks.

- Paul

Back from Japan (but not for long)

Been a while between updates, and obviously I have returned from Japan some time ago – but the email backlog it caused as well as processing the orders for batch 16 of our Custom Katana range (which was only open for a week before we had to close off again) – not to mention the usual day to day stuff has made updating the site a bit of a challenge..! (to say the least!).

Anyway, as mentioned in march edition of the digest online magazine (Read online here, if all goes to plan I should have another few reviews up on the site before the end of the month – but it did not mention that also at the end of the month I am heading off to Japan for a longer duration with a view to relocating there soon afterwards.

This time, because I am going for a longer period (while checking for any potential problems that running the site from Japan may cause), I am doing as much as I can beforehand to ensure any delays or interruptions to the site and store are to an absolute minimum (a day or two while in transit only).

Better get back to it as there are several half-finished reviews that I need to concentrate on, hopefully will have at least one finished by around this time next week!

- Paul