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Post by Gunnar Wolfgard on Mar 10, 2018 23:45:48 GMT
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Post by zabazagobo on Mar 11, 2018 0:28:07 GMT
That's kind of unfortunate, I always thought of VA as perfect for filling in a price niche between the $500 and $1,000+ brackets. At these prices, that Irish ring-pommel is further m.i.a. from my short-list as their Suontaka is from production.
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stormmaster
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Post by stormmaster on Mar 11, 2018 0:29:13 GMT
I believe sonny has said that he had some issues with the forge that made his chinese blades for the signature/special editions, so he is looking for a new forge, at the mean time he is making his craftsman series which is all made in the usa
if u consider the cost of a usa made blade and high quality scabbard and belt, its not hard to imagine the price is right, you also have to remember, lockwood swords are considered albion quality and are all handmade in the usa and have worked with sonny for years so I would imagine the quality will be about the same
i've asked sonny before what the price for the new suontaka that is in the works would go for and when i said $1200, he told me that sounds about right, maybe more, maybe less, but since the first run went for $1080 this sounds about right, the bronze fittings are being made John Downham and last I checked sonny was just waiting on him to finish it so we should get more info hopefully soon
all things considered, $1200 for a VA handmade Suontaka + Suontaka themed scabbard does not seem like its overpriced
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Post by Gunnar Wolfgard on Mar 11, 2018 0:44:15 GMT
Yeah but when you asked about the $1200 price was that with the Chinese blade or his blade? And was that with the scabbard or without ? He's selling all the Craftsman swords without scabbards and the scabbards are a $300 extra.
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stormmaster
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Post by stormmaster on Mar 11, 2018 1:02:34 GMT
Yeah but when you asked about the $1200 price was that with the Chinese blade or his blade? And was that with the scabbard or without ? He's selling all the Craftsman swords without scabbards and the scabbards are a $300 extra. im assuming a chinese or h/t blade since thats how it was last time, and with scabbard, who knows, ill ask him
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stormmaster
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Post by stormmaster on Mar 11, 2018 1:06:53 GMT
Yeah but when you asked about the $1200 price was that with the Chinese blade or his blade? And was that with the scabbard or without ? He's selling all the Craftsman swords without scabbards and the scabbards are a $300 extra. I just asked sonny, he said his blade
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ChrisA
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Post by ChrisA on Mar 19, 2018 13:52:02 GMT
A good, quality blade made here in the States plus a scabbard and belt for $1200? Sounds like a good deal to me.
I always felt Sonny undercharged for his stuff.
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Post by Gunnar Wolfgard on Mar 19, 2018 14:12:41 GMT
Absolutely, but his blades still have to be time proven. We all know his scabbard work is great but who has tested his new blades ? I'm not saying he shouldn't have a higher end line but just don't agree with dropping your bread and butter. It's like he's turning his back on all his loyal customers who just can't afford a $1200 sword. If he had a Suontaka and scabbard ready to go for $1200 I would buy it but I'm starting to think it's the Loch Ness monster of swords. People say it exists but no one can get their hands on one.
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ChrisA
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Post by ChrisA on Mar 19, 2018 14:14:33 GMT
Absolutely, but his blades still have to be time proven. We all know his scabbard work is great but who has tested his new blades ? I'm not saying he shouldn't have a higher end line but just don't agree with dropping your bread and butter. It's like he's turning his back on all his loyal customers who just can't afford a $1200 sword. If he had a Suontaka and scabbard ready to go for $1200 I would buy it but I'm starting to think it's the Loch Ness monster of swords. People say it exists but no one can get their hands on one. Agreed.
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stormmaster
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Post by stormmaster on Mar 19, 2018 14:45:18 GMT
Don't think there will be a belt, there will probably be a bridge tho like the first time, I don't think sonny has discontinued his Chinese made blade line but is just looking for a new forge for blades, the next iteration of the suontaka has not even been officially announced yet so I think we should all just wait and see how it come out first, good stuff takes time
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stormmaster
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Post by stormmaster on Mar 19, 2018 14:49:10 GMT
And don't take the $1200 price point to heart, it could be more or less cause sonny hasn't confirmed it just said that was a good guess
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Post by Gunnar Wolfgard on Mar 19, 2018 15:24:13 GMT
Don't think there will be a belt, there will probably be a bridge tho like the first time, I don't think sonny has discontinued his Chinese made blade line but is just looking for a new forge for blades, the next iteration of the suontaka has not even been officially announced yet so I think we should all just wait and see how it come out first, good stuff takes time He talked about the Suontaka on his Facebook page and said he was waiting for the fittings to come and that was last year.. Maybe he should have stuck with whoever he got the first run of fitting from. Those swords came out at a reasonable amount of time.
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stormmaster
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Post by stormmaster on Mar 19, 2018 15:26:54 GMT
Don't think there will be a belt, there will probably be a bridge tho like the first time, I don't think sonny has discontinued his Chinese made blade line but is just looking for a new forge for blades, the next iteration of the suontaka has not even been officially announced yet so I think we should all just wait and see how it come out first, good stuff takes time He talked about the Suontaka on his Facebook page and said he was waiting for the fittings to come and that was last year.. Maybe he should have stuck with whoever he got the first run of fitting from. Those swords came out at a reasonable amount of time. I asked sonny before and the fittings are still being made by John like the first time
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Post by Faldarin on Mar 19, 2018 15:32:50 GMT
Absolutely, but his blades still have to be time proven. We all know his scabbard work is great but who has tested his new blades ? With Sonny's build-times - I doubt you'd need more than one hand to count the people who actually have Craftsman-line swords in-hand. Maybe upwards of a dozen. That's probably why we haven't heard anything overall. I'm not going to destroy it, but I imagine that I'll have one of his new line in hand by the end of this month or early next - a review will be posted. (Edit: I can't compare to Albions, because I haven't handled enough of them - but I'll be able to pretty easily compare to actual Tinker and Trim blades, as well as previous VA products.)
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Post by Gunnar Wolfgard on Mar 19, 2018 15:35:17 GMT
I think there's a lot more to this story then what we are being told. If you remember correctly the first batch had three people involved. Not just Sonny and John. If I remember correctly the third guy was the one who designed the mold for the fittings.
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stormmaster
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Post by stormmaster on Mar 19, 2018 15:43:27 GMT
I think there's a lot more to this story then what we are being told. If you remember correctly the first batch had three people involved. Not just Sonny and John. If I remember correctly the third guy was the one who designed the mold for the fittings. I think the third was printed armory
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Post by Gunnar Wolfgard on Mar 19, 2018 15:58:26 GMT
That sounds familiar.
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Post by rjodorizzi on Apr 26, 2018 20:25:39 GMT
Damn...was just searching the forum about the signature collection and stumbled onto the thread. What a bummer, I definitely think the Signature line value is going to be missed.
It definitely filled a gap. I'm hoping to see it come back one day, it was great to give new collectors a solid recommendation for a full kit that wouldn't blow a hole in the wallet.
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Post by zabazagobo on Apr 26, 2018 21:58:34 GMT
Yeah, their leather work is still awesome but their complete package is now pretty darn expensive (pretty much double what they were a couple years ago when blades were sourced from China). If I had known more about VA a couple years ago I would have bought up a couple of their models for sure when they were more affordable.
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Post by rjodorizzi on Apr 27, 2018 12:58:23 GMT
A lot of those value lines have given up the ghost. Even Longship used to have a moderate amount of "budget" (for them) models. Sad to see some of these value pieces going away, lots I would have liked to own and now that I have the means I can't find them!
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