SBG Custom Katana and the Black Dragon Forge BLOG

SBG Custom Katana and the Black Dragon Forge BLOG: April 2009

Friday, April 24, 2009

Status Update

Ok folks, a few bits of news in the one post.

The first thing is that after some additional unexpected delays, 98% of the custom Katana from October->December have been shipped out and you should have received and email with the tracking information by now (the main delay was everything was inspected, sorted and handed to a third party shipping agent - who failed to send them out promptly! Naturally, we weren't very happy with that - but now they are definitely on the way).

The second bit of news is for those people waiting for their Jan-Feb orders. These swords are very close to completion - with only 1-2 weeks before they leave the forge and start flying across the world to my agent in Canada. This means that, unlike the October-December orders, we are pretty much on track (I really can't believe how long the October-December ones took, hopefully that will never happen again!).

It does seem that this project tends to stray outside of the optimal 90 days from ordering to receiving that we have been aiming for, but we are refining all the time. Speaking of which, the third bit of news is that as soon as the Jan-Feb orders have left the forge, we will be opening up again for another batch - which with several hundred people already on the Custom Katana Waiting List may not be open for long before we get too many swords to be able to fulfil within the allocated time frame...

Anyway, everything does finally seem to be coming together - so to everyone who has been waiting for one thing or another, thank you so much for your patience. I have definitely been doing my best, and this is most certainly a very time consuming project, but oh so worth it when I read the feedback from customers who receive their own, one of a kind differentially hardened T-10 steel Katana for around the $300 mark...

Thanks again everyone,

Paul Southren

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Finally!

Thanks for bearing with me guys.

I am pleased to let those of you who have been so patiently waiting for your swords since October to December, they have finally cleared customs and are with my agent in Canada being sorted for delivery very early next week..! (I'll be in touch with you all individually soon, so look out for my next email!).

The good news is that it looks like the QC policies that we implemented that were partly responsible for this slowdown were well worth it, as he reports that the quality overall is even better than the very first swords (one of the first ones pictured below)



So hopefully it has been worth the extra wait to you all (though again, I apologize for how long it took).

The other current Jan-Feb orders are progressing along nicely, and that means that very soon, to all the people who have joined the Custom Katana Waiting List that once I am certain that it's all going smoothly, we will be again opening up for new orders.

Be in touch again VERY soon (and I must admit, I do feel very relieved that they are finally here, the pressure and responsibility has weighed heavily on me as I don't take the trust you put in our store buying these lightly!), but as always should you have any specific concerns not addressed here just let me know.

And happy Easter too!

Paul Southren