Sword Manufacturers Guide Blog

Wondering what's new at Sword Manufacturers Guide?

The Sword Manufacturers Guide Blog is designed to keep you totally up to date and let you know whenever any new pages appear on SMG, 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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Sword News with Arnold

Sword Industry News Update, October 2010

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How to Leather Wrap a Sword

A straightforward tutorial on leather wrapping and wire wrappning your sword handles

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Sword Making Supplies

Directory of sword making supplies, sword parts and other bits and pieces to help you make your own sword or customize an existing one

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How to Make a Sword

A simple and free ten step guide on how to make a sword written with the beginner in mind

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2005 to 2010: The Golden Age of Swords

A look back at the last 5 years of the sword industry, how it was, how it has changed and where it is going with SBG's Paul Southren

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Sword News with Arnold

First Sword Industry News Update, April 2010

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New Articles

Hey guys,

Just a very quick update - we have recently added two new features to the site which are worth letting you all know about.

The first feature I alluded to in the last edition of the Sword Buyers Digest online magazine - and that is the industry news column Sword News with Arnold - which while not yet in its final format, already has two updates for this month that every sword enthusiast will want to check out.

And just added today, we have a very eye opening, behind the scenes look at the Chinese Katana making industry with an interview conduced with a Chinese forge by Chris Scoggin from Ronin Katana entitled Katana Made in China: A peek behind the bamboo curtain which offers some real insight into what goes into making a decent hand made, functional, Katana.

And finally, not sure if you guys saw it yet - but the Destructive Tests on Medieval Swords has been completed - and next, we will be doing something very similar with several popular, entry level Katana..!

See you all again soon.

Best,

- Paul Southren

Destructive Testing of 4 Medieval Swords

Side by side testing of four low priced (around $250 to $400) medieval swords by Paul Southren from Sword Buyers Guide.com

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Quick Follow Up

It's going to take a while to load all the pages I have been working on over the last couple of weeks, but you should start to see them all added before the end of the month.

I'll be explaining more about what all these changes mean and what is in store for the next few weeks in the April edition of the Sword Buyers Digest Online Magazine so if you haven't already, sign up for the inside scoop!

See you there!

- Paul

SMG UPDATE AND NEW LOOK!

It's been 'on again off again' ever since its conception, primarily because the demands of running sword buyers guide are so time intensive, SMG has only ever been a side project - not updated as often as it should be, but still I hope useful..

But THIS time we are getting serious, and we are starting with a brand new look!

So far, only this page has been updated with the new look - but behind the scenes, after receiving the new template from my web designer, I am coding all the old pages for the new look and preparing several brand new articles..

For a sneak preview of some of what to expect from this new revilization and direction SMG is taking, check out the preliminary page for our Side by Side Destructive Tests of 4 medieval swords (more content will be added over the week).

There is a LOT more news pending, but for now I just wanted to give you all a heads up of what to expect, and get used to a format that I personally think is a lot less 'cramped'.

Talk again soon.

Paul Southren

Getting SMG back on track

Hey all,

Just a very quick note to apologize for the infrequency of updates on the site.

With the overhaul at our sister site Sword Buyers Guide.com nearly 100% completed, I'll be turning my attention back to getting this site back on track.

Some preliminary reorganization has already taken place - including a new look and feel and improved side bar navigation, as well as migrating some articles over here from SBG that are better suited here anyway - but all of this is temporary and a LOT more changes are in store over the coming months...

Anyway, I'll be posting updates here as we go - but in the meantime, get ready - SMG will very soon start moving towards the vision that I had for it when I first started work on it a couple of years ago - and it is VERY exciting stuff..!

Paul Southren

Excuse the mess

Just a note that SMG is currently in the process of going through a MAJOR overhaul and expansion in the next couple of months. So while things may be a bit chaotic for a while, don't worry - once the dust has settled I think you'll find it a much better and more informative site...

The Raptors have landed! (well, nearly)

While they wont actually be landing until Summer 09, Hanwei's first through hardened blades - the raptor, look set to ruffle some feathers.

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Slight 'Hiccup' in Supply Coming on Chinese made swords

With extremely strict export and import procedures put in place before and during the Olympics, the Chinese government halted all shipments of swords out of the country during this time.

Considering that most shipments of Chinese made swords are shipped in bulk via seafreight, this will likely cause a bit of a hiccup in supply of swords in the US market for the coming 1-2 months before the shipments come in.

Some manufacturers may be hit harder than others depending on how they prepared for it, but if you see many retailers starting to run a bit low on supply, you'll know why...

Newsfeeds soon to be at 100%

Just a very quick update.

Since the site was launched, not all the features are 100% operational yet - most notably the newsfeed for each individual manufacturer.

However, stand by - they will be delivering news in January 2008 as it comes to hand, so stay tuned. :-)

Thanks for bearing with me as the site is fine tuned.

- Paul