NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF KIT RAE FANTASY ART
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WHERE TO BUY - Links to several online Kit Rae dealers. Other retailers can be found by doing a simple www.google.com search for the name Kit Rae or the product name.
6/20 /2013 UPDATE
AXIOS FORGED SWORD CANE NOW SHIPPING
The new Axios Forged Sword Cane (#KR0056) is now shipping from authorized Kit Rae dealers. It features a high carbon steel blade, leather wrapped grip, and solid wood shaft. The cane locks to the handle and can only be released by pressing a hidden button, to prevent unauthorized use. More details and specifications are here.
Email us for a list of dealers stocking the Axios, or you can find links to several authorized dealers in the WHERE TO BUY section.
NEW VORTHELOK SWORDS NOW SHIPPING!
By popular demand, the Vorthelok Sword (#KR0046) returns. Many collectors and dealers who missed out on the original Vorthelok run have been begging us to make them again. We are happy to report that we have made another small run of Vorthelok swords and they are now shipping from authorized dealers.
Email us for a list of dealers stocking Vorthelok, or you can find links to several authorized dealers in the WHERE TO BUY section.
BLACK LEGION BATTLE AXE RETURNING!
The black bladed version of the Black Legion Battle Axe (#KR0022B) has been retired for several years. It has been getting hard to find, and many collectors have inquired if they will ever be made again. We have decided to bring them back for a short time. A new run is currently being made and should be ready in a few months. We will post news as soon as they begin shipping from dealers.
4/19 /2013 UPDATE
KR SWORD DISPLAYS BACK IN STOCK!
We have had many requests for more sword dispalys to be made, so we are pleased to announce Kit's Universal Sword Display and Wall Stand are now shipping from authorized United Cutlery dealers. The Universal Sword Display (KR0062) is designed to fit Sedethul, Vorthelok, or any other Kit Rae vertical sword from the Swords of the Ancients collection. Pre-drilled holes in the back allow you to customize the hang post locations. Features a brass Kit Rae shield, and “weathered” silk screen design. 9 1/4” x 14 3/4”. Includes mounting hardware.
The Sword Wall Display Stand (KR0041) fits most straight or curved sword blade shapes. It is difficult to find horizontal swords stands that fit Kit's Mithrodin, Avoloch, and Vorenthul swords, so we created this one to exactly fit those swords. Wood construction with brass Kit Rae shield. Includes mounting hardware.
Email us for a list of dealers stocking the displays, or you can find links to several authorized dealers in the WHERE TO BUY section.
BLACKJET THROWING AXES NOW SHIPPING FROM AUTHORIZED DEALERS!
The BlackJet™ Throwing Axe (KR0036B) returns! We have had many requests to bring the original BlackJet back, and it is now shipping from authorized dealers. This is Kit's favorite thrower, and hands down, the best sport throwing axe on the market. The straight handle design and balancing makes it stupid-simple to throw. Most people learn how to throw it within 5 minutes of use, whereas it often takes days to learn to throw knives, and many people simply give up in frustration. For the novice, there are four penetrating points (front edge, top edge point, back spike, and pommel point), so it is easy to stick one of them in the target even with a bad throw. For the advanced thrower, those four points give you four different throws to master. Check out Kit showing how to do it in the demo video below. 14 7/8" overall length, weight 14oz, constructed of one solid piece of 420 stainless steel, black coated finish, and reinforced nylon blade pouch. Email us for a list of dealers stocking the BlackJet, or you can find links to several authorized dealers in the WHERE TO BUY section.
The BlackJet includes basic throwing instructions and instructions for building a wood throwing target.
NEW KIT RAE BLADE MARKING GUIDE - IDENTIFYING AN ORIGINAL
There have been several different types of blade markings used on Kit Rae swords and knives throughout the years. The new BLADE MARKINGS GUIDE page is a quick reference guide of the various KR markings to determine an original Kit Rae product from a counterfeit, and roughly when it was made. The page also includes information on serial numbers and prototypes.
1/27/2013 UPDATE
KIT RAE INTERVIEWED BY BLACK FLAG Alternative Music and Culture Website
Machine Steve at Black Flag interviewed Kit about his career, how he got started, his weapon art, writing mythology, inspirations, music, collecting vintage Electro-Harmonix fuzz pedals, and more. Read the full interview HERE.
AXIOS SWORD CANES COMING SOON IN DAMASCUS AND CARBON STEEL
Kit has been a fan of sword canes for many years, and has designed several for clients, but never added one to his own line. The time has now come. Axios, the first Kit Rae sword cane design, will be available this Spring. There will be two blade steel and color options: a 1045 carbon steel version (#KR0056) with a black/brown colored shaft and grip, and a folded Damascus steel bladed version (#KR0056D) with a deep red shaft and grip, and black iron steel finish. The cane handles will be solid metal, and the sword handle grips will be leather wrapped. Canes will lock to the handles and can only be released by pressing a hidden button. More information will be posted in a future newsletter.
12/13/2012 UPDATE
JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!!! DEATH'S HEAD DAGGER NOW SHIPPING FROM AUTHORIZED DEALERS!
The Death's Head Dagger (#KR0048) is a new dagger designed by Kit, now shipping from authorized United Cutlery dealers. It has been many years since Kit created a new fantasy knife, and this one has been in the works a long time. Specs can be found here. They are shipping from dealers now. Email us for a list of dealers stocking the Death's Head Dagger, or you can find links to several authorized dealers in the WHERE TO BUY section. A limited edition art print of Kit's original artwork featuring the dagger is also available and may be ordered from the Art Prints page.
VORENTHUL GOLD LIMITED EDITION NOW SHIPPING FROM AUTHORIZED DEALERS!
The Vorenthul Gold Limited Edition (#KR0053G) is now shipping from select Kit Rae dealers, just in time for Christmas. Vorenthul is the second of three swords in the Swords of Avonthia series, from the Swords of the Ancients. It is a beautiful sword with gold plated hilt parts and a red leather wrapped grip, similar to a katana. Strictly limited to 300 pieces worldwide! Each sword is laser engraved with an individual serial number. Full specs can be found here. They are shipping from dealers now. Email us for a list of dealers stocking Vorenthul, or you can find links to several authorized dealers in the WHERE TO BUY section.
WE HAD A BLAST AT KUTTERS KNIVES IN OCTOBER !
We are a bit late in posting this, but I just wanted everyone to know how much fun we had meeting collectors and catching up with some old friends at Kutters Knives in Ottawa, this past October. Teresa and I always enjoy meeting and talking to my collectors, so a big thanks to each and every one of you who came to the store for photos and autographs. We hope to see you again the next time we visit Canada. Also, a big thanks to Russ, Eva, Devyn, and Genesis at Kutters Knives for your excellent hospitality. Kutter's is one the best looking and best run knife stores we have ever seen. It is always a pleasure to visit a store run by people who are actually knowledgeable about knives and swords they sell, have a passion for the business, and actually care about their customers. It is a rare thing to find a knife store that is not packed with cheap, low priced junk these days. Kutter's never went that direction and we are proud to have our blades in their store (yeah, it sounds like we are blowing smoke, but it is all true). Here are some pix from the event! Tons of photos for the event are posted on our KUTTERS 2012 PHOTO PAGE. Kutters Knives in located in the Merivale Mall, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
VORTHELOK SWORD AND SWORD DISPLAYS WILL RETURN IN 2013
Most dealers sold out of the Vorthelok Sword (#KR0046A) autograph edition a long while ago, but many collectors, and dealers, who missed out on the original run and the Gold Edition have contacted wanting more. We are happy to report that we are making another run of Vorthelok swords for early next year. We expect these to be avaiilable around March 2013, but we will post an update on the News page as soon as they begin shipping. We have also had many requests for the KR sword wall plaque (KR0041) and wall stand (KR0062), which have been out of stock for some time. Those should also be availble around March.
KIT RAE INTERVIEWED IN THE NEW ISSUE OF BLADE MAGAZINE ABOUT THE HOBBIT WEAPON REPLICAS
The new Spring 2013 Knife Buyers Guide issue of Blade Magazine cover feature is about United Cutlery's weapon replicas from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, on magazine stands now. Kit is interviewed about the work Kit Rae Design Studio did for United Cutlery to create the weapon replicas from the film.
10/14/2013 UPDATE
VORENTHUL AUTOGRAPH EDITION NOW SHIPPING FROM AUTHORIZED DEALERS!
Vorenthul - Second Sword of Avonthia (#KR0054A) Autograph Edition is now shipping from select Kit Rae dealers. Vorenthul is second of three swords in the Swords of Avonthia series, from the Swords of the Ancients. It is a beautiful sword with a bronze finished blade spine and a leather wrapped grip, similar to a katana. It is limited to 2000 pieces and serial numbered. Specs can be found here. They are shipping to dealers now, but note it may take a few weeks for all dealers have stock. Email us for a list of dealers stocking Vorenthul now, or you can find links to several authorized dealers in the WHERE TO BUY section.
The Vorenthul Gold Limited Edition (#KR0053G) is also in the works for late 2012.
VORTHELOK GOLD EDITIONS ARE NOW SOLD OUT
Many of you have inquired in the past month about where to buy the Vorthelok Gold Edition sword. The Vorthelok Gold editon was limited to 300 pieces. All dealers have now sold out. The best place to find one now is ebay. The Vorthelok Sword (#KR0046A) standard version with the autographed poster print was limited to 2000 pieces. The balance of the original production run should be available in March for those of you who missed out.
SEDETHUL GOLD GOLD EDITION IS NOW SOLD OUT
The Sedthul Gold edition was limited to 300 pieces. All dealers have now sold out. The best place to find one now is ebay.
SEDETHUL SWORD MOD FOR SKYRIM: THE ELDER SCROLLS V
Kit's sword designs are often featured as custom weapons mods in computer gaming, especially in Oblivion, Dragon Age, and many for Skyrim. The latest is this excellent model of Kit's Sedethul sword for the hugely popular Skyrim game, posted on the SkyrimNexuz mods website by InBleedingRapture. Both the standard and gold versions are available. You can download this mod here.
THE HOBBIT PROJECTS FROM KIT RAE DESIGN STUDIO
As many of you know, we do a lot of design and development work for various licensed film and video game replicas here at Kit Rae Design Studio for various clients. We basically take the film props or game models, reverse engineer them, create CAD design, 3D models, tooling design, specify materials and finishing, or whatever is needed to get the production versions made that are sold to the public. This month at KRDS we are showcasing the licensed replicas we are working on from the new Peter Jackson film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, coming in December. Kit supervised the original LOTR Weapons and Arms replica line from United Cutlery, and for the past year KRDS has been continuing that work for the new The Hobbit film trilogy replicas, to be manufactured and distributed by United. Here are a few prototypes from the first wave of products, replicated from the actual props that were designed and built by the fantastic artisans at Weta Workshop in New Zealand and the art department for the film. Shown below is Orcrist - the Sword of Thorin Oakenshield. Click the photo to see more. For more info, go to the United Cutlery website. An article on The The Hobbit weapons, featuring and interveiw with Kit, is coming in the December issue of Blade Magazine.
9/7/12 UPDATE
NEW AIRCOBRA AND HELLHAWK THROWER TRIPLE SETS NOW SHIPPING
The new KR throwers are here! The large AirCobra 10 3/8" Throwing Knife Triple Set (#KR0061) is for serious knife throwers who like distance throwing, and the smaller AirCobra 9" Throwing Knife Triple Set (#KR0059) and HellHawk 9 3/4" Throwing Knife Triple Set (#KR0057), for those who like throwing shorter distances and close range target board competition. All three come with a custom designed paper target, for point based competition. Click the links below for full specifications. You can find out where to buy them HERE.
KUTTERS KNIVES VISIT IN OTTAWA, OCTOBER 20-21st!
Video with details and times for Kit's appearance at Kutters Knives in Merivale Mall, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in October. Event times - Saturday :10:00am - 5:00pm. Sunday: 12:00pm-4:00pm. Bring your Kit Rae blades to get an engraved signature, an autographed photo with Kit, get your Kit Rae art prints autographed, or buy a new Kit Rae blade at Kutters and get it engraved. Kit will have a selection of his poster art prints to be autographed as well. We hope to see you there!
WE MADE IT THROUGH DRAGONCON 2012!
Dragoncon in Atlanta this past weekend was a huge success. It was great to meet all of you new collectors and to catch up with all of our old friends. It is a long show, and a lot of work, so Teresa and I thank all of you for making it such an enjoyable show for us. We can only bring a small amount of swords, knives, and art to these shows, so for those of you that were disappointed you missed out on getting that special piece you were hoping to for, we will try and bring more of each item next year. My tactical designs for the Honshu and M48 lines were also a big hit this year, so we will bring more next time. We'll see you again in 2013! Thanks to Teresa for all of her wonderfulness (she is the most fantasic wife on this planet), and a special thanks to Brian for the dolly. It saved the day at tear down on Monday.
NOTE FOR DRAGONCON 2013 - Next year the dealer and exhibitor halls will be moving to the Americas Mart building #1. It is located on Peachtree Street NE, between the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel and the Hyatt Regency (both are DragonCon event and host hotels). We will be in the dealer hall on floor 2. For you DragonCon regulars, it is also directly across from the Peachtree Center Mall entrance on Peachtree Street, leading directly to the food galleria. The new building will allow for more room and more dealers than in previous years.
NEW ART PRINTS
We premiered several new limited edition art prints at DragonCon this year, including several prints of Kit's original pencil drawings, by request, and the uncensored version of kit's new Morweth Wields Vorenthul painting. All are now available on the newly updated Art Prints Page. The Art Gallery has also been updated.
8/7/12 UPDATE
VORENTHUL AUTOGRAPH EDITION COMING IN LATE OCTOBER!
Vorenthul - Second Sword of Avonthia (#KR0054A) Autograph Edition will be shipping from select Kit Rae dealers in late October. Vorenthul is second sword in the Swords of Avonthia, a new series from the Swords of the Ancients. It is a beautiful new sword with a bronze blade spine and a leather wrapped grip similar to a katana. More information and photos will be in the next newsletter, but for now, click on the link below to see the specifications.
7/12/12 UPDATE
VORENTHUL SWORD AUTOGRAPH EDITION COMING NOVEMBER
Vorenthul - Second Sword of Avonthia (#KR0054A) Autograph Edition announced in the last newsletter, will be shipping from select Kit Rae dealers in November. More information and photos will be in coming newsletters, but for now, click on the links below to see the poster print of Kit's artwork that will be included with the sword (an uncensored version will be available as a fine art print), and some of Kit's concept art for the Avonthia series. Each poster print included with the first run of the sword will be hand autographed by Kit..
KUTTERS KNIVES VISIT IN OTTAWA, OCTOBER 20-21st!
In October Kit will be making an appearance at Kutters Knives in Merivale Mall, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Kit enjoyed meeting and talking to all of his Canadian collectors a few years ago, so it will be great to return to the homeland once again. Bring your Kit Rae blades to get an engraved signature, an autographed photo with Kit, or get your Kit Rae art prints autographed. We hope to see you there!
WALKING DEAD KATANA DESIGN
We do a lot of design, development, and replica work for various film and video game replicas at Kit Rae Design Studio. One of our favorite shows is AMC's The Walking Dead. Kit helped out with the development of a katana design that will be featured in the next season of the Walking Dead. Last season ended with the introduction of the new samurai sword wielding character, Michonne, a favorite from the comics. The sword she used was just an off the shelf stock katana, but for season 2 they wanted something unique and iconic. The design originated with Walking Dead prop master John Sanders, who came up with the elements he wanted on the sword, including the triple goddess and trinity symbols, leather wrapped hilt and scabbard (originally pink - Kit suggested white) styled similar to an old katana design Kit did created around 15 years ago. Kit created detailed drawings for John and the prop maker to use, and the finished prop is dead on to the design. Olin Sword built the actual props for the production, doing an amazing job within the very short time they had to have props ready for shooting. We had hoped United Cutlery would be be able to sell a replica of the sword later this year. Unfortunately AMC could not work out a licensing deal with them, but we will get to see the sword an all its zombie hacking glory when season 3 premiers this year.
KITS M-48 HAWK AXE IS THE #1 SELLING TACTICAL AXE
Many of you know that Kit has been a designer of tactical and outdorsman knives and axes for many years. We thought we would tell you about one that Kit is particularly proud of. Kit's M-48 Hawk Axe is the #1 selling tactical axe on the market currently, and people have been going nuts over it. We thought we would post a few of the youtube reviews of this axe, manufactured by United Cutlery for their M-48 Kommando line.
HUMOROUS KNOCKOFFS WE HAVE SEEN
Counterfeits are a huge problem, and many any of you have emailed to let us know of counterfeits of Kit's knives and sword that you have seen, but occasionally we find humor in some of the places we see Kit's work being knocked off. Recently we have seen Kit's Sword of Darkness design used on fireworks packaging and pool cue handles! Below is a photo from a story about a China crackdown of counterfeit swords last month that we found hilarious. Sticking out on top of the pile of confiscated swords is a knockoff of Kit's Sword of Vaelen (photo removed). To the right of that is a photo from the Islands of Adventure theme park gift shop in Orlando, Florida, featuring a knockoff of the Sword of Vaelen in a counterfeit Lord of the Rings letter opener, of all things.
