Many people have been asking for an update on Longclaw progress, so here we go.
Things have taken much longer than we initially wanted. The blade is ready to be manufactured, prototypes are done, tooling is setup, but now we cannot quite get the finish we want. With Longclaw we are establishing the look of all the Valyrian Steel products we are going to be producing, so it is important we get it right, the good news is though that once we do get it right, we will not experience this same delay with any of the other swords. Hopefully we’re able to nail down the right finish by the end of the month, then mass production can start with delivery ending up around May.
We’ve also changed the plaque based on feedback. The design mostly the same but after discussion with GRRM we have tweaked the front leg to be a more realistic angle.
The second sword we will be producing is Needle and we’ve already started the design process on it. Needle should also be simpler to produce and might also end up coming out in 2008. We’re also considering doing Needle in high carbon steel. It may not be possible, but considering the blade is small and needs no special finishing we think it is worth a shot.
The third sword will likely be Ice, unless A Dance with Dragons comes out and features a new sword we want to make instead.