Well, we arrived back from Japan around the middle of last month, so again – the digest is just a little thinner than usual – but don’t worry, it will be back to normal next month..!

Anyway, even though this issue is a tiny bit light again – we might as well get stuck right in!

CONTENTS

1. SBG SITE NEWS AND UPDATES
2. SWORD INDUSTRY NEWS
3. COLLECTORS CORNER: “Waiting for Cutting Weather...”
4. BEST FORUM POSTS
5. VIDEO OF THE MONTH – ‘A REAL Buster Sword’
6. BARGAIN HUNTERS CLEAROUTS AND DISCOUNTS

Of course, I kept busy in the mornings and at night ensuring that all my emails and Sword store related stuff was running smoothly as usual – but during the day we all had a great time catching up with my wife’s family and friends over there. My language skills got quite a workout too – improving dramatically for the first week and then to come crashing down as I overanalysed it all too much – so by the end of it I was jokingly referring to my Japanese speaking ability to be something the equivalent of Borat’s in English... ;-)

Anyway, pics, and commentaries are here on the SBG Sword Forum for anyone who wants to know more.

After we got back, my main priority was to upgrade the SBG Sword Store – not only another long overdue cosmetic facelift – but also to make it more robust for further functionality.

So feel free to have a look and let me know what you think - still some tweaking to do, but all the heavy lifting has been done.

Next month, its time to stock up on reviews, so stay up to date on what happens, as it happens – be sure to visit the SBG News section or better yet – subscribe to the RSS feed for up to the minute additions.

Ok, I’ll admit it – I took my eye of the ball a bit during the Japan trip and there haven’t been any updates to SMG during this time. But there is still some news worth reporting here, though perhaps not as much as in recent months...

First off, you may know that the production run of Darksword Armory backorders has been completed and we are working hard to get them all out as soon as possible. Everyone who ordered one through the SBG Sword Store has been contacted, and there are only about 10 people who I haven’t heard back from yet – but if you are one of those, please contact me asap so we can make sure your order goes out as fast as possible.

Because our number 1 priority is the backorders, even though they are theoretically in stock, I wouldn’t go ordering any just yet as we will need to clear all the backorders yet and it may result in a delay, but they should be ready to order again within about 1 week.

Other news is very recent – Generation 2 are back in the game with their Henry V Sword!

You can see the full review of this sword here on the forums, and it is scheduled to be available sometime in June this year.

I promise I’ll keep on top of the news as it happens on SMG this month (^_^). So to keep me accountable, be sure to check the SMG Newsfeed often - or better yet, use the RSS feed to get announcements in your RSS reader.

This won’t be relevant to everyone, since not everyone who collects swords lives in Canada. Although if they did, it would increase our military might by approximately 2000%. I’ll leave the awesomeness of a Canadian military armed with nothing but swords for another day; there are far too many rabbit trails we could go down with that one (such as, “don’t lick a freezing cold sword blade,” and “what if the swords poke holes in the bottoms of our War Canoes?”).

Yes, it is spring here in sunny Canada, and in much of the world as well. This is a season filled with meaning and purpose: weddings are happening at an increasing rate, as are births; gas prices are going up, as are cottage sales as people can no longer afford to drive to their summer getaways; cars are coming out of garages; birds and bees are up to their usual shenanigans (which, contrary to popular belief, mostly involve pooping on my car and chasing me, respectively). And for sword collectors, this is the time when all those saved up milk jugs and Coke bottles start getting filled with water and stacked near the door in preparation for “Cutting Weather,” much to the annoyance of spouses and cats (who are usually annoyed with anything that brings pleasure to human beings).

Yes, Cutting Weather, that magical time when it’s actually bearable to swing swords at water filled objects that are (in theory) still holding water in the liquid state. Folks who have to deal with winter and various symptoms thereof know the hazards of placing waterbottles outside; what was once an easy target becomes a rock-solid adversary to blade structural integrity. Not even the “invulnerable” Cheness Tenchi could withstand a hit on a frozen Coke bottle at sub-freezing temperatures. I don’t know how else to say, this, it’s a bad idea. Don’t try it. Ever.

Cutting Weather – just the words themselves full me with feelings of hope, joy, excitement, and a little bit hungry (I skipped lunch), If fellow Canadian/winter nation collectors are anything like me, they have a whole schedule worked out already. They know exactly which swords are coming out on that special day, which sword is going to slice the first bottle of spring in half. A can of WD-40 and a few rags are sitting next to the basement steps, while arranged in order of use are all the new swords accumulated during the winter months, or just swords that have been sorely missed while Old Man Winter was doing some cutting of his own (I have no idea what that means, but I thought it sounded cool. Let’s pretend I’m trying to coin a new phrase).

I know that my schedule for this past Saturday (designated Cutting Day by the weatherman – at least, that was my interpretation of what he said) went something like this:

9:00 AM: Wake up. Realize that it isn’t a work day; go back to sleep.

9:05 AM: Realize that it IS Cutting Day – wake up again, this time with feeling.

9:06 AM: Get up, exit bedroom in search of swords.

9:07 AM: Return to bedroom in search of pants. Dress.

9:10 AM: Head to basement, grab cutting stand and first sword to cut with – in this case, Windlass English Cut and Thrust.

9:15 AM: Exit house, grabbing bottles on the way. Set up stand and bottles.

9:18: AM: Start cutting.

9:30 AM: Return inside for more swords. Repeat.

10:00 AM: Run out of bottles. Still have 3 swords to go. Head inside, drink three quarters of a 4L jug of milk. Lie down due to stomach pain.

10:10 AM: Feel better. Rinse out jug, take outside. Cut jug. Throw up milk behind garage – milk still cold, interesting sensation.

And so on. This was my plan, it was a good plan, and I liked it. I had been waiting through the coldest winter in 16 years to get to this, and I was ready to cause some serious destruction. Serious destruction and carnage. In water bottle form.

So when Cutting Day and Cutting Weather were scheduled to come around, I was pumped! Ecstatic! I was so excited I forgot to put on pants at first (good thing I had my schedule). I ran downstairs, grabbed the cutting stand, a few bottles, and a sword. I put my shoes on, and charged out the back door.

Straight into a swirl of snow, biting wind and temperatures below -10 Celsius.

Frick.

Well, there’s always next weekend. The weatherman SWEARS next weekend will be warm. In the meantime, I’m going to go drink 4 glasses of milk. I need more targets anyways.

You Tube Video of the Month

Crazy stuff...!

Paul Southren