CAS Iberia/ Hanwei Items

[Chris B]

I thought I would pass along the following:

I have seen people saying that CAS/Hanwei rapiers and blades have been backordered and difficult to get.  This will only get worse apparently.  I personally talked to one of the owners of Kult of Athena today AND one of the sales managers for CAS in the US Market.  I was told that as a result of the fire in their factory and due to changes in legislation by the Chinese government that MANY of the items that they have once sold through retailers are being permanently pulled from retailers. 

Basically, they will no longer offer many of their products to ANY retailer in the US market and these items will only be available through their own retail site at FULL retail prices or discontinued all together.  It seems the Western items are being hit worse than their Japanese line, but the only choice soon for many of their items will be to pay full MSRP and to wait until they have them available.  It seems hit or miss which items are being changed, but I thought I would give this forum a heads up in case there is an item you have been on the fence about recently.  For me, it was their naginata that I bit the bullet and bought from Kult of Athena today for $495 before they increase to almost $900 if they are available from their own site.    

The only way to know which items are affected is to send them an email asking about the one you are interested in.  Anyways, just a heads up.

[Chris B]

On a related note, it seems that Del Tin has increased its market presence in the US once again, and they are very comparable to Hanwei for Western swords in price and in my opinion, superior in quality pretty much across the board.