Overview
Our sharpening service will provide a good serviceable edge on the blade. The result is typically “very sharp” with a small secondary bevel and a bit of an “apple seed” profile. The resulting edge is somewhat dependent on the particular blade. Some blades will take and hold sharper edges than others and the thickness of the blade will determine how wide the bevel will need to be. We adjust the angle of the edge to suit the specific blade and attempt to get as close to a bevel-less edge as possible without marring the surface of the blade.
The Sharpening Process
The sharpening service is done with a belt sander. The process involves many passes with sanding belts of various grits. The blades are rested between passes to prevent them from becoming hot and damaging their temper. By default we will sharpen as much of the blade as possible including any false edges if appropriate. If you have a different preference, feel free to make that request in the special instructions at check out. We can sharpen only the last half or third of an edge, for example. Our sword sharpening expert has personally sharpened several thousand swords at this point, so will provide you with a professional service.
What the Service is Not
The resulting edge will be “sword sharp” not razor sharp. Our goal is to provide you with a usable edge for cutting practice that will hold up to some use and not require constant re-sharpening. In other words, we intend to provide you with a serviceable weapon, not a personal grooming implement. The service will not provide a completely bevel-less edge. To create that type of edge will necessarily scratch up the blade surface and we lack the machinery and time to provide a full re-polishing of a blade’s surface. A service of that nature would be significantly more expensive as a great deal more time would be required. We do not offer this type of service at this time.
Disclaimer
We make no guarantee that the resulting edge will meet with your expectations. Every blade is different and some will take and hold a sharper edge than others, due to the blade material, heat treatment or geometry. Some customers can also have incorrect assumptions about sword sharpness and improper expectations as a result. All we can say for sure is that the resulting edge will be sharper than the default edge, in most cases, significantly so. We can not provide any refunds for the service once it has been completed, so consider it to be provided “as is”. That being said, if you are unhappy with the product for any reason, we do still allow you to return the item for a full refund, including the sharpening costs under our normal return policy. This does not apply to special sharpening requests, for example if we sharpen something specially for you that does not normally list that option on our site. The vast majority of our customers are happy with the results of the service, so as long as you keep the above mentioned in mind, we are confident you will be pleased with the results as well.
Gregg Allen (verified owner) –
Long flexible blade, not very practical, but it’s got some serious range, and thrusting power. I may try to grind the blade narrower to make it lighter. It looks really cool. Glad I got it.
Tyler –
This is well made but heavy and needs some sharpening or grinding. The fit and finish is excellent. It is indeed a hot hammer peened blade according ti traditional methods. It is well made. But it is just heavy. It you have a sharpening wheel you should put a hollow grind on this and it will be great, reducing some unnecessary weight. Historically, yes, rapiers were quite nimble. While of course, the small sword was faster, the rapier itself was also very fast. Don’t listen to people who make clunky modern swords, without reference to the originals, and then make the excuse by saying “ancient rapiers were not fast, but“ they’re just saying that so you won’t blame them for their product. This is tip heavy and needs a lot of material removal. I would advise a long-term regimen of wheel polishing and sharpening and in time it will balance out. Also I ground the area of the cross and guard that you normally wrap your finger around. Because it was too angular and sharp on my skin. I smoothed it down so it is more comfortable to grasp. Other than that, no problems aside from it being blunt. Make sure to hollow grind sharpen it!
Matthew (verified owner) –
This is a good sword for the price. There are a lot of minor things I don’t like- the blackening isn’t quite even, the pommel is able to rotate (but it is very secure), the welds for the hilt overall are somewhat sloppy, and the shape of some of the curved pieces of steel for the hilt are not very even. All of these things are minor, however, and should be expected with the price. When mine came it was packaged and shipped nicely but it did have a small amount of surface rust on the tip of the blade. As others have said it is heavy and should be ground down to be lighter and more agile. I haven’t done this yet so I can’t say much on that topic. My blade has some very very minor variations in width and thickness which should be expected for the price.
This sword is a really good sword for it’s price point, but comes with some obvious and expected downsides as all cheaper blades do.