Modell Design LLC is primarily a designer, wholesaler, and less frequently retailer, of bladed weapons including Karate Sai (the rod on Sai is technically called a "blade"). The vast majority of our designs are high-end Butterfly Swords for Wing Chun Kung Fu sold by EverythingWingChun.com. Most of the more expensive Butterfly Swords shown there were designed here. We also design weaponry for other martial arts including but not limited to Hung Gar, Shaolin and Kung Fu San Soo. These are typically sold on this web-page, via private messages on our Facebook page, and through the highly respected knife (and sword) consignment shop Arizona Custom Knives (AZCK). We show both swords and knives at AZCK. Modell Design LLC is located in Michigan and the design work is done here in Michigan, USA; provided, however, if we list a weapon and indicate a different designer (e.g., David Broadwell in the USA, K. Ali in Pakistan) that is who designed it! If the knife is Loveless-style, the transformation of photographs and Loveless drawings to actual scale plans was likely done by us. If also responsible for manufacture, we source that work to a custom knife-maker in the USA or to Forge Master K. Ali, in Wazirabad, Pakistan. He is the premier international maker of high-end Butterfly Swords, uses Austrian/German Bohler steel for most of his work (the Sai have French steel) to assure quality, and loves making knives. His work sells for much less than the cost of an item made to our same design and quality standards in the USA and no one in the USA (or, we believe, the world) has as much experience with quality Butterfly Swords. That said, his quality is recognized as on par with U.S. custom knife makers so in the knife world it sells at that price level, which reflects a severe discount to the market price of works by great USA knife makers that sell for even more! Here is an example; the last pair of custom Butterfly Swords we sourced in the USA cost nearly $4,000 to design and produce. A similar design (not that one, it is exclusive) can be made for us overseas and sold for $1,200 to $1,500 prior to import costs. We encourage you to check out Forge Master K. Ali's other work on AZCK. A few of our designs are there as well as his variations and his own work. Since he makes most of our Butterfly Swords, we generally dual-list them with him on AZCK. When there is a new design done on spec, we typically send the first one to AZCK and let them price it since they have tremendous expertise. We recognize many martial artists cannot afford to pay the fair market value for high quality collector grade weapons so we generally get around to making popular high-complexity models in a "Sifu" grade (something your instructor would love to get). We also sell cosmetic seconds when we have them. They typically go quickly to friends and family. We have more seconds than a lot of sword makers since we deal exclusively in weapons grade products which tend to be very unforgiving.
We do custom orders, including school orders, for swords and knives other than for Wing Chun. If you want something special for Wing Chun, our services are available at a discount through EverythingWingChun.com's Custom Shop program. We get a design fee and they do all the un-fun business things. If you are seriously interested in custom weaponry feel free to contact us but we ask that you refrain from inquiring until you have made the decision to move forward.
We recently moved our web-site to Shopify so expect a few kinks. For example, we presently quote fixed prices for shipping, which are going to be fairly accurate. They include boxing, handling, insurance and shipment by UPS in the USA and generally GXG (U.S. Post plus FedEx) for international. If you contact us directly we are happy to pass on pretty much the actual cost.
We offer deep discounts to active duty military and law enforcement personnel but you will need to contact us directly and have proof.
Who is "we" since Modell Design LLC, a Michigan corporation, is a one-person shop? We is Master Jeffrey Modell, Isshinryu Karate 5th Dan and long-time Gung Fu Practitioner, with input from a circle of Wing Chun Masters, Instructors, and a study group of law enforcement and special forces/ex-special forces personnel. Only Master Modell is on the payroll; the rest are friends and associates.