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Paul's Sword Industry Thoughts:

2005 to 2010: The Golden Age of Swords...

OR

"These are the good old days"...

Never before have there been so many affordable, decent quality swords availalable - and never before have they been refined to this degree..

Since 2005 we have seen an EXPLOSION of swords being made to try and suit the needs and requirements of the more discerning members of the sword community, a trend that has indirectly benefitted each and every sword buyer.

Even swords designed for mass market consumption such as movie swords have benefitted from this refinement - such as swords made by Windlass Steelcrafts that were munitions grade battle ready instead of stainless ornamental..

But for the more discerning sword buyers the changes have been even more dramatic.

In this article I will be taking a look at the industry over the last 5+ years from a 10,000 ft birds eye view: summarizing the changes, trying to identify the trends and make a few educated guesses about which direction the sword industry is headed into the future...

MEDIEVAL SWORDS: Sharpened Crowbars No More...

Back in 2005, there were only a handful of choices for 'battle ready' medieval swords. Back then, sub $300 swords were pretty much all 'sword shaped crowbar' clunkers and the only other option were expensive high end historical replicas..

But in the last 5 years, the gap between these two extremes has closed dramatically.

It all began with Clyde Hollis from Generation 2, who started working with the guys from the early SBG Sword Forum - soliciting feedback to turn big clunky beaters made in the Phillipines into much more refined, historical swords.

It was far from an easy process, with some terrible problems with tempering that had to be overcome early on - but it all changed when the late sword historian Hank Reinhardt came onboard - and now the difference between an early model Gen 2 sword and a current Legacy arms/Gen 2 sword is remarkable...

Recognising the trend, many other medieval sword makers started to respond in a similar way.

I still recall the first time I saw the medieval knight sword by Darksword Armory, which handled pretty darn well for a beater. And pretty much fell in love with the line when I tested it hard and it withstood everything I threw at it..

Even though they started from a good position - their swords too began to 'evolve'. From threaded pommels to peened, from extremely heavy blades to much lighter and better balanced blades, and now high quality mild steel fittings with cord riser and leather wraps, and from truly deplorable scabbards to scabbards that now look almost like they were custom made - they have, and continue to, take it to the limit!

Each change made by one sword maker effected the other, and it was during this time that an entrepreneurial and intelligent gentleman by the name of Sonny Suttles took over the helm at Valiant Armory and began to resurrect them from the ashes of obscurity..

Under Sonnys direction, valiant team up with American sword and sword furniture makers Angus Trim, Christian Fletcher and Odinblades John Lundemo to design swords, try out a heap of Chinese forges, work with the BEST quality suppliers there - and out the other end come up with swords like THIS: for around $400 to $500 instead of $1,500 or more.

Not to be left behind, the Hanwei forge - who had previously always struggled a bit with their medieval swords, teamed up with Gus Trims friendly rival, Michael "Tinker" Pearce to create swords design by Michael and made and their forge at Dailan: sub $300 swords designed around Michaels advanced understanding of sword handling dynamics and secondary nodes.

With the gap closing fast between high end and entry level swords, high end makers like Albion and Arms and Armor had to struggle to stay in business, raising their prices several times and trying their best to keep up.. And while times have been hard for them, and the future uncertain, they will always have their die hard fans due to their commitment to quality, customer service and museum based research and development.

Overall, an amazing and dramatic transformation, but one that was certainly not limited to just the medieval sword market..

JAPANESE KATANA: From Kashira to Kissaki

In 2005 the only half decent sword under $300 you could call 'entry level' was Hanwei's Practical Plus Katana and Kris Cutlery - everything else was either stainless steel garbage or extremely (extremely) expensive..

And then along came the infamous 'Chinatana' ('Chinese made Katana') onslaught, starting on ebay but soon spreading like wildfire..

Overinflated prices on stainless steel Katana started to be pushed downwards in price by basic, machine made carbon steel blades made by such as Masahiro, Musashi swords and other unnamed, generic brands..

Quality was (and remains) hit and miss with these mass market makers, but from the free for all of cheaply made blades and mass produced fittings - some solid sellers started to emerge.

Cheness Cutlery were one of the first, starting with hand forged blades in average fittings and experimenting with new steels such as 9260 Spring Steel blades that people either loved or loved to hate (personally, I still find a Tenchi to be a solid investment, and have a Kaze Katana that I had custom mounted in a dragonfly silk ito that is one of my favorite swords in my collection).

The author pictured holding a Cheness Tenchi and remounted Kaze Katana

Cold Steel stuck to their with their Fred Chen made beefy slicers (they didn't really need to be heavily modified and had their own loyal fan base). Dynasty Forge brought out their extremely well received Musha Range, and CAS/Hanwei responded by upping the ante and creating the 'Elite' and 'XL' Katana: razor sharp and very well made, concentrating on details that others overlooked like numbering and matching the blade of their Practical Plus Elite Katana numbered to a specific tsuka instead of just hammering or gluing them on and hoping for the best like EVERYONE else at this price point...

As the 'new wave' of better engineered Chinese made Katana continued to refine - another trend began sometime in 2008 as individuals attempted to cut out the middle man and started doing business directly with forges in China to make individually tailored, low cost personalized swords: with somewhat mixed results...

It was during this new trend that SBG was approached by a couple of gentlemen from different forges, and seeing the problems and the potential decided to make a few prototypes. And once satisfied, we batched together 'group buy' orders to the best forges we could find.

The end result of this project resulted in two lines of SBG exclusive swords - the entry level custom swords and our own successful experiment to try and make some traditional swords at a fraction of what their normal price would be with the SBG professional grade katana line to address the issues common to all low cost Katana, further stimulating other makers to concentrate on what was important and continuing to evolve at an increasingly rapid rate..

In a few short years, the gap between high end Katana and the most basic kind of blade you might find in a dojo had and continues to close. And while cosmetic and non-critical flaws are still common, the quality of these swords has improved dramatically.

But the story is not finished yet..

While huge improvements have and continue to be made, the best may well be yet to come..

What the future holds (Sword Darwinism?)

Now I'm no prophet, but I've been involved with the sword industry long enough to be able to see which sort of direction it's taking..

On the one hand, with people having less money to spend on their hobbies and collections, they want to get as much information as possible before they buy because they can't afford to make a mistake. They also want and demand proper old fashioned customer service - and in the best traditions of natural selection, the crappy sellers and products are being exposed, weeded out and are dying off..

At the same time, the sword community of 2010 is more educated than ever before, and the market continues to respond to their feedback and demand.

This 'push-pull' dynamic is having a powerful effect on all levels of the sword industry..

Medieval sword enthusiasts have come of age, the old 'clunkers' are just not acceptable anymore - and even though the divide between lovers of beaters and historically accurate swords still exists, it is continually evolving towards a happy medium of medieval swords that are both robust and handle as much like the historical originals as possible.

Historical plausibility, if not accuracy, is now an essential ingredient as never before.

Japanese sword enthusiasts are demanding greater attention to detail, and to a large degree they are getting it! Swords like the SBG Kuramono and Ronin Katana's Dojo Pro line pay attention to even the smallest details in a way that, until recently, was only ever seen on swords above the $1000 price point..

And even the low-priced machine made swords are being refined to create basic collector grade swords such as the $80 'Bamboo' Katana by Musashi Swords (man, it almost seems that if you call a low-end sword 'bamboo' it is going to be lucky!).

But the search for low cost, highly functional swords and beaters is also taking a new direction - and a third option is emerging (one I'm personally quite interested in to be honest) and that's the low cost, tactical style blades such as the Hanwei tactical Wakizashi and the $23 Cold steel two-handed machete katana (love the concept of this thing, shown in the video below).

But the question must be asked, how much further can the sword industry 'push the envelope'? After all, there are cost limitations as to how much time can be spent making a sword that will sell for at or around $300 - especially with China, who produce the overwhelming majority of functional swords on the market these days, becoming less competitive due to the rising costs of wages and their currency floated against the US dollar..

Maybe the machine made blades like the Bamboo are the future? Or maybe the great strides forward made over the last 5 years push towards the upper limits of what the relatively small size of the sword market can sustain (it must be remembered that the sword market, especially for the kind of swords serious enthusiasts want and love, is a tiny niche)..

Maybe the future from here is all about tweaking and refining the revolutionary steps that have been taken up to now.

Cheap swords sold to the mass market will still dominate on volume - but perhaps incremental refinements and greater accesability of KNOWLEDGE available to those who care to know what to look for, along with more responsible and informative marketing of swords by sellers is what the future holds?

Whichever way it goes, the truth of it is that today we are in a GOOD place, spoiled for choice as it were!

While there is still a lot of junk out there, it's easier than ever before to find a solid, functional sword at a decent price - so much so that it's no so much a case of sorting the jewels from the junk, but on choosing the right jewel!

BUT, and this is an important qualifier - there will probably ALWAYS be minor issues on lower end swords.

They have got a LOT better in the last 5 years (and the flaws, less dangerous) - but NOTHING will ever really replace the ability to tweak a production sword to take care of any small, non critical annoyances and some good old fashioned KNOWLEDGE on what to look for when you get a new sword, as well as what is normal and what is not (especially because, who KNOWS what really happened to your sword when it was in transit!)...

While the amount of messing about to turn a sub US$300 sword into something you could trust your life with on a medieval battlefield has been dramatically reduced and almost entirely elminated in some ways, it will ALWAYS pay to know the difference between a minor cosmetic thing you can fix in a jiffy, and a serious fatal flaw..!

CONCLUSION

"These are the good old days" - and it would seem, they may be getting even better - or at least more refined..

It's almost as if a tsunami of swords crashed onto the shores of the market and now that the tide is withdrawing, we find lying buried in the sand some seriously amazing treasures that continue to refine and evolve before our eyes!

The divide between high end and entry level swords is starting to blur as more swords of high quality that were far out of the reach the average sword buyer start to come into range. And who knows, within the next 5 years we may see the cheapest functional swords made from modern materials with as few 'moving parts' as possible, and more traditional swords continue to refine themselves until a $300 sword is more like todays $1,000 one.. (and the $1,000 swords become like toadys $2,500 blades).

In short, it's all looking pretty darned good!

Yes, it's not all clear sailing though.. There are threats to sword ownership worldwide - as there will always be the irresponsible idiot in the mix who makes things harder for OVERWHELMING majority of true sword enthusiasts.. But even bans like those in the UK, while hardly to be encouraged, force manufacturers to make 'traditional' swords for collectors, and in a strange way act as a further filtering mechanism that bolsters the push towards further refinements.

Whichever way it goes, NOW is most definitely a golden age that shows signs of continual refinement and improvement - and in my own small way, I'll be doing my best to try and keep it all on track for this community that shares my sword passion and infatuation.. ^_^

Paul Southren

I hope you enjoyed my rambling - but I'd like to know what YOU think of it all - either musings from the past, ideas or opinions about the future or whatever it is that you think of it all..!

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Yes, but.... Not rated yet
What about Chinese swords, Paul???? Huh?? *tweak* We, too, now have awesome REAL ones (such as what Jin-Shi sells) at affordable prices versus crap. Makes ...

Casual collector and cutter Not rated yet
I seem to have gotten into all of this at just the right time, having bought my first sword from you, Paul, just a few years ago.

What I thought was ...

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