Category Archives: General

We get questions from time to time about sword maintenance. This post will henceforth serve as a location for such information.

Presently we make swords out of three materials, maintenance needs will depend on the material.

Stainless Steel

If your sword is made from stainless steel, such as Longclaw or book Ice it needs almost no maintenance. Stainless steel isn’t fully rust proof, over a very long period of time it can still show some corrosion. You should do your best to keep it out of water and keep fingerprints off it. The acid in a fingerprint can, if left on the blade over a long period (months, years), still mark it. But generally, hanging up, unless someone touches it, you need to do nothing.

High Carbon Steel

If your sword is made from high carbon steel, such as book Needle, show Ice, Robb Sword, or anything in Damascus it needs maintenance. Ambient humidity can cause pitting, as well as actual water and finger prints. The blade should be wiped with a soft cloth after any handling, and you should keep it oiled or waxed regularly. Mineral oil works, as well as any oil sold or labeled for use with knives or guns, do not use a vegetable oil. For a more long term solution a product called Renaissance Wax is available. If the sword becomes pitted or rusted you will need to polish it with a product like Metal Glo or Bar Keeper’s Friend. The Bar Keeper’s Friend powder (get the powder kind) works very well with a scrubbing sponge (such as Scotch Brite) at removing rust or pitting. Just make sure you wipe the blade off thoroughly immediately after you finish and even rinse it with water, as leaving the cleaner on it can cause even more corrosion. Then dry dry dry thoroughly, and coat with oil. High carbon steel swords will ship to you with an oil coating on, but even that is not foolproof, so they should not be stored long term.

Damascus Steel

Damascus steel is a blend of two types of high carbon steel, so all that is true for high carbon steel is true for damascus steel. Except because it is so much more valuable you should be even more vigilant. Also, if your damascus does get blemished, be careful when polishing so that you do not wear off the patina. Test the polish first in a small spot.

Handle Parts

All our handle parts have a protective finish and should not need any maintenance.

We have decided to put LONGCLAW and NEEDLE on sale, ending Saturday the 24th. We wanted to put them on sale for some period before the end of the year, and this is a good slow patch between book/TV show releases, and the busy Christmas season. ICE is not on sale, as it is still a new release. So right now both LONGCLAW and NEEDLE are $20 off.

GRRM has officially approved the Damascus ICE. We will make 250 of them, they will be $700 each. Preorders will open in about two weeks (probably also on the 24th) and it could be in your hand sometime in November. We will announce the exact date and time of the preorder opening in advance.

King Robert’s Warhammer is in the prototyping stage, we’ve had one prototype made and are making a second. Preorders may open before the end of the year, but you wouldn’t likely see it in hand until late Spring 2012.

The Night’s Watch obsidian dagger set is also in the prototyping stage. If we can get it done quickly, it could start to ship before the end of the year. I am hoping it will. But it will be in limited quantities.

Damascus Oathkeeper is currently in the concept art stage. Nothing to show yet.

Here are some looks of our Robert’s Warhammer Prototype.

We’ve found that the head is so heavy we need to reinforce the haft more so we’re going to have another prototype made with a stronger haft before going into production. This will delay the ultimate on-sale date of the item by at least a couple months.

But it is one big bad hammer.

Probably about 90% of the Ice preorders have shipped, we’re working on getting tracking numbers to those who have not yet received them. Others who received them early will start seeing activity. Still, some of you may receive the sword before your tracking number.

Damascus Longclaws will head out by August 9th.

Ice will be leaving our facilities and going out to customers starting Wednesday. At that point it won’t quite be “in stock” because we’ll be playing catch up for a week or so and moving the bulk of them (that are left), to our Michigan warehouse from our LA warehouse. But, by the second week of August it should be to the point where any new orders would ship within 24 hours. Thank you everyone for your patience, especially those of you who ordered way back last October.

On the Damascus Longclaw, we have some final prep to do so we have to wait until they’re trucked here to Michigan, so those won’t go out for another week to 10 days or so.

We are going to start processing orders for Ice, so you may receive a shipping confirmation. This does not mean your order has shipped. It merely means we have printed the label. We have so many orders to get through that we want to print all the labels up in advance so that the swords can get back out as soon as possible. So, when you see an email and see an email saying your order has shipped, you can get excited, just not too excited.

This is also your last chance to change your address if it has changed.

All of this is applicable for the Damascus Longclaw as well.

If you’ve not ordered it yet (and plan to) what are you waiting for? It is not too late to order from Amazon and have it delivered to you on the 12th, you don’t even have to get out of your pajamas.

In related news, guess which 5th book in a fantasy series is #1 on Amazon right now? A Dance with Dragons. Considering Amazon’s huge sample size that probably means it is the #1 book in the world right now. Guess what number 2 is? The 4 book boxed set of A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows. So, the top 5 selling books worldwide right now are the 5 A Song of Ice and Fire books. How cool is that? I’m giddy about it and I’m not even George R.R. Martin.

In other related news, a week after A Dance with Dragons is released, the 2012 ASOIAF calendar will be released. In previous years this has sold out, leaving many fans without one, so I would order it soon.

Finally, please remember, NO SPOILERS. Please do not post a comment on any post on this blog referencing anything from the plot of A Dance with Dragons until at least August 12th, giving everyone 1 month grace time to read it. If you post a spoiler it will be deleted anyways, so just don’t do it. If there is a cool sword in ADWD you want us to manufacture… don’t email us, please, we’re readers too, and maybe we’re not reading as fast as you, we have swords to ship out and everything afterall. So, just wait, wait until August 12th, then we can all talk about it. Thank you.

We’ve been posting updates in a variety of places such as Facebook, or in comments to older posts here as people ask questions, but it has been awhile since we’ve done an actual update post. So, here it is.

Ice will start shipping by the end of July, barring tsunamis, earthquakes, and union strikes in the shipping industry.

The remainder of the Damascus Longclaws will go out at the same time.

For all customers who have ordered these products, if you’ve moved since you placed your order, please make sure we have your correct address.

We continue to work on King Robert’s Warhammer. We don’t know when preordering will open on this item. Maybe August.

After the warhammer, we don’t know what we will make. Items being considered include Oathkeeper, Tyrion’s dagger, Khal Drogo’s Arakh, and/or a Night’s Watch “dragonglass” obsidian dagger.

We’re also investigating the production of a Damascus Ice. GRRM has not signed off on this yet though, and if we do make it, it will likely not be out until 2013 (if our experience with the Damascus Longclaw is any guide). It will probably cost $700 assuming there is no major inflation or currency upheavals in the next two years, which could change things. But again, not confirmed yet.

These have already been posted to GRRM’s blog, and to Facebook, but here they are here. The first look at the hammer prototype.

This is not final. There are some finishes that need to be applied to the head, and to the gold rings on the grip. But it is pretty close. Big. It weighs just under 10 pounds (with of course most of that concentrated at the end, which amplifies the force of a blow).

The Damascus Longclaw has sold out. We have a small buffer in case of damaged ones, and there is always a chance of an order cancellation between now and when the final shipment ships. So, when it is all said and done, we may end up with 3 units or so.

So, here is what we’re going to do. If you want an option of purchasing one of those leftovers, post in the comments of this blog post that you want to be on the wait list. Then, we’ll just manually contact people on the wait list, in order, if we have any extra after fulfilling all existing orders.

Update We’ve got more than enough people on the list, we’re likely to have less than 5 units available, and there is like 30 people waiting now. So, no need to get your hopes up and add any new names. The stainless Longclaw is going to be the only option for most of you. With Ice, we’ll make more damascus ones.