Daggers, swords, and greatswords exist that are made of Valyrian steel (I: 20, etc.)
Damascus Longclaw Update
July 22nd, 2010The news is not good. Production continues to take longer than expected.
I feel as if, for the continued delay, a more detailed explanation is deserved.
What you need to understand is that we don’t own a factory, we do the design of the product in house, but actual manufacturing is bid out to specialized factories. This is the norm in the sword business, and in most modern manufacturing, be they swords or computer chips or flat screen TVs. So, we hired a factory to produce the Longclaw Damascus based upon our specifications, they said sure, it’ll be ready in X months.
Well, they vastly underestimated the time required to make damascus to our desired quality. There is some cheaper quality damascus swords out there, but we wanted to put out something higher quality and so we requested something better. The better damascus is a newer thing and they just, apparently, did not have the experience to measure the time frame correctly, and we have been told their own metal supplier is also giving them problems.
They have also been thoroughly turned off on the whole product, they bit off more than they can chew and are now choking, not just on ours, but on damascus swords for other vendors too. You may have noticed that damascus is the style du jour for many swords lately. We of course wish to make them to be more accurate to the books, not just as special versions, but there is still a lot of demand out there presently which is squeezing quality supply.
Anyways, they have choked so badly on this damascus sword that they’re swearing off future damascus orders. This is probably just a negotiating tactic, but we are exploring other options for an Ice damascus edition. However it does mean our original goal of concurrently releasing two version of Ice is not going to happen.
What we are likely going to do is have a partial release of Damascus Longclaws sometime in early fall (in customer hands in September, we hope), to fill the people with the earliest preorders, with the balance coming two or three months later for the rest of the preorders and for open ordering if there are any left at that time (currently, around 60 sold).
Of course if anyone is tired of waiting they may cancel and receive a full refund. You’d lose your spot in line if you ever changed your mind to buy one again.
In unrelated news, we should have photographs and thus open preordering for the standard version of Ice in late August. And we will continue seeking options for the Damascus Ice, but it may be awhile before that is available. Finally the technical drawings for King Robert’s War Hammer just went off to GRRM for final approval, once gotten we’ll start building a prototype.
Maisie Williams as Arya
April 8th, 2010Maisie Williams will be playing Arya in HBO’s “A Game of Thrones” television series. GRRM sent her one of our Needle’s to practice with and he has the pictures up on his blog.
I personally think Needle looks good in her hands, we messed around with the length a little bit in the design process, trying to figure the appropriate length for a fictional girl, and it looks like we ended up spot on, or near enough as makes no matter.
Needle can be purchased here and is in stock.
Here are two of the pictures, not seen on his blog.
Damascus Longclaw Update
March 26th, 2010We’ve received word that the Damascus Longclaws will not be ready until July now. I must apologize for this delay. The factory we have contracted to make them just misjudged the amount of time it requires to make a proper Damascus blade, and our quality standards do not allow them to take any short cuts.
So, it is taking a long time, but on the other hand, it is being done right. Mixed blessing I suppose.
About half of the Damascus Longclaws are already sold to preorders by the way.
In the meantime, here is an extreme closeup of one of the blades.
HBO announces pickup of Game of Thrones, and other news
March 2nd, 2010HBO has greenlit the series, A Game of Thrones should air about a year from now.
In unrelated news…
1. In concert with GRRM, we’ve decided to make King Robert’s Warhammer the next piece (after Ice). So if you’re name is Rhaegar, best stay away from any rivers.
2. For those who have asked, we’re up to mid 40s in the Damascus Longclaw numbers. Also, we’re still on schedule to have manufacturing completed in April.
3. No idea on when we’ll open up Ice for preordering yet. We still need to make a prototype.
4. In case anyone is visiting us for the first time. Here is a recap….
Longclaw is available, you can order here.
Needle is available, you can order here.
The Damascus version of Longclaw should be ready in April, you can preorder it here.
Ice will be done next, it is not yet available for preorder. You can however view a sketch here.
Robert’s War Hammer will be done after that, and that just started the design phase.
Vote: What should we make next
January 28th, 2010We had originally planned to do Khal Drogo’s arakh, but might not. In anycase, we thought we’d ask you your opinion. Please vote here.
Needle Fully Shipped
January 28th, 2010Needle has shipped to all International and other remaining customers. It is now fully in stock and available to ship to everyone typically within 1 business day of placing your order.
Depending on your location an International Airmail shipment can take up to around 10 days, so please be patient.
Needle Shipping
December 31st, 2009Needle shipped to domestic customers today, you should start receiving it next week. We’ll be emailing tracking numbers out by the weekend.
International orders should go out the second week of January.
Be sure to write a review once you get it.
Happy new year, and stick them with the pointy end.
Needle Update
December 22nd, 2009Needle will start to ship the week after Christmas to domestic people, and the week after that (we hope) for International people.
If you’ve moved or otherwise need an address change and have not yet gotten one, now is the time to tell us. Email us at sales at valyriansteel dot com with your order information to change your address.
Longclaw, by the way, can still be ordered for Christmas delivery, even with ground shipping if you live close to Michigan or close to California (the two places from where it ships) but for everywhere, up until 12/23, with air shipping.
Longclaw air shipping turned on
December 1st, 2009Because we are now in December, we have turned on domestic air shipping for Longclaw. So if you need it quickly, as late as 2 PM Eastern on the 23rd for Christmas delivery, you can order it with this method and have it arrive in time.
Order Longclaw here to get it shipped by air, note, you need to order it from that specific page to be able to access the air shipping option. And this is for domestic orders only. International orders really need to be placed by the second week of December for any chance at Christmas delivery.
Needle Update & Christmas Shipping Information
November 13th, 2009Looks like Needle will not be here until like the third week of December, this is going to make it very very hard to get it to customers by Christmas, we’re going to try our best though. For those who bought it as a Christmas gift, our apologies, it should still arrive before new years for domestic orders, and just after the first of the year for International customers.
For Longclaw, here are your Christmas order dates:
Christmas falls on a Friday this year, making the last day for deliveries Thursday the 24th. People on the East Coast should order by Friday the 18th or Thursday the 17th if they use ground shipping. People on the West Coast should order by the 21st, maybe the 22nd.
International customers should give at least one more week to be safe, so please order by the 11th. Canadian customers, being much closer than European customers, could maybe wait a few more days, but that time of year Customs offices are busy and so you should plan on packages taking a little longer than usual.
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