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.
Patrick K. –
Lively Longsword I will qualify this review by firstly saying I have no great knowledge or experience concerning medieval or WMA swords. In saying that, I am very pleased with this offering from Hanwei Tinker.
On opening the box this sword came in, the first thing to notice was its finish – with pommel, cross-guard and metal fittings on the scabbard all exhibiting a nice polished finish. Furthermore, all of this swords components fit snugly and seamlessly together. The leather on the grip and scabbard seem to be of good quality and is nice and supple. The sword itself is well constructed in Tinker Pearce’s typical take-down style – undoing a 5mm hex/allen head on top of the swords pommel allows the sword to be completely disassembled. The metal cross-guard is of a solid construction (far more solid than many swords from this maker), but does not spoil the swords lines, looks or balance. The grip has a square-ish profile that gently tapers back to the pommel. The scent-stopper pommel itself is one of
Lucas C. –
More sword than it should be at this price. I’ll preface this with an explanation regarding why I only gave it 4 stars- the scabbard could be better. Not bad, I’m glad it came with one, but the throat of the scabbard needs some filing to not contact the blade.
Despite that, this sword exceeded my expectations for the price. Very nicely made and I’d highly recommend it for anyone looking to buy their first longsword.
Oh, and let me not forget to give a HUGE shout out to Kult of Athena. Doing business with them was painless and they processed and shipped my order faster than I could’ve hoped for. Will be a loyal customer of theirs from here on out.
-LC
Tyler –
Perfect first sword This was my first real sword(bought it over a year ago) and is still one of my favorites. It feels great in the hand. It’s honestly a dream to do drills with very well balanced and evencomfortable to use with one hand. The steel itself is somewhat on the softer side but for light cutting (I.e water bottles) it’s great. The leather is definitely cheap so be prepared to replace it down the road. I didn’t have any loose fittings or qc issues ( no loose fittings) with mine and trust me it with through a lot of abuse.
If your looking for your first longsword look no further this one is great.
Craig m. –
Great sword for the money. the sword upon arrival was exactly as expected well balanced feels good in hand . grip leather was terrible felt as if it would slide around if swung full force. i rapped the handle with a tight thin cord and am satisfied with it currently. the scabbard on the other hand was a disaster it was full of debris and tape as well as a mysterious sticky black residue that i must wipe from the blade every time its drawn. the shell is a thin cheap plastic and the sword rattles inside . honestly Hanwei would look better if they threw the scabbard in the trash and sold the sword for 10 dollars less…
Chris D. –
Great for the price I can’t find much to complain about with this sword. I’m not a huge fan of the mirror polish on the guard and pommel, the leather wrap on the handle feels like it’s coming loose, the scabbard tends to grind against the edge when drawing it and doesn’t hold the sword perfectly (the sword falls out when held upside down), but the pros heavily outweigh all of that.
Price is the obvious benefit here, there’s a ton of value for your money. The sword has a solid construction and feels lively in the hand. Overall It’s the perfect sword to get if you’re just getting into sword collecting, or want a longsword that feels historically accurate without braking the bank.
Amber O –
The sword itself is fantastic. Good balance, good construction quality. The leather wrapping on the grip is maybe a little weird, and I might replace it eventually, but it’s nothing I particularly dislike, it’s just the only thing I can find that’s wrong with it.
I accidentally gave it a bit of a beating first time cutting with it and banged it pretty hard against the very solid metal stand I was using. It came away with nothing but a bit of a scuff in the finish.
The scabbard is…. Garbage. It initially didn’t fit the sword all the way down into it, and eventually something down in there broke, and a bunch of little plastic shards started coming out. Now the sword rattles around in the scabbard, which seems to be made of plastic with just a loose leather wrap.
That said, the scabbard being cheap is actually kind of good for my purposes, since i regularly wear it around in my day to day life. The scabbard doesn’t have any hanging equipment, but the cheap leather bunches up a bit and sits quite securely just cinched tight under a webbing belt. Not exactly proper wear, but who’s gonna tell me I’m wearing my longsword wrong in 2021?
So for purposes of open carrying, a kinda cheap scabbard is nice. I don’t have to worry about damaging it, and it does a decent job of protecting the sword. I’ll probably get a nicer one at some point, but for now, it’s perfect.
Basically: if you want something cheap but sharp to do basic cutting or some light drills, or for carrying around every day, this is great. If you’re looking for a functional display piece, it’s pretty good. If you’re looking for something super fancy, probably look somewhere else.
Jurgen –
This is the best sharp longsword you can get for under $500, and it’s better than several swords that are over $500! The only other sharp longswords that are made to withstand as much abuse are the ronin katana euros, and I think they aren’t balanced as well. I find it kinda funny that several greena$$ newcomers to HEMA are docking stars off their reviews of this sword because the FREE scabbard that it comes with isn’t amazing. I mean, I get it, it could be better, but most high end companies don’t even provide you with a scabbard unless you’re willing to pay a lot extra and some scabbards cost more than this sword, so let that sink in. FYI, noobs, you shouldn’t be storing your swords in their scabbards anyways… Ignore the ignorant newbie complaints, and get this sword.
Sophia Caldwell –
{LEVEL 29 LONGSWORD}
DAMAGE:
Pierce> 999 —-(went through a target intended for heavyweight crossbows….and its wooden backing)
Slash> 5-30 —-(their idea of ‘sharp’ seems to differ from mine, especially close to the guard) [-1 star]
Blunt> 45 [too high!]
DURABILITY: 1000 —-[very strong, not even so much as a loose fitting!]
BALANCE: PERFECT
DEFENSE: 129
EFFECTS:
+90% Damage to unarmored targets
+500 Concern Damage to Neighbors
+50% Blunt Damage on Mordhau Grip
-10% Proportion of day lost finishing the edge
+85% Likelyhood of being stopped by police
+1000% Resistance to flirting
+0% Bullet Parrying
Rick Miller –
I started collecting Medieval European swords sometime around 2009 or 2010. My first really well designed Medieval (type) sword was the Hanwei Tinker Pearce Bastard sword with Fuller, and Jeez! I was hooked!
For some reason, I kept missing out on the Tinker Pearce Longsword. I would always seem to just miss getting one before every vendor ran out. They would almost always sell out with in a few days of being in stock. Finally, I put my name in to be notified when they were in stock, and managed to finally get one!
This is a fabulous longsword! The balance is great, and the long grip allows for very powerful cuts due to the ability to spread your hands and get max velocity on the swing! The sword is really designed for thrusting, and it does that beautifully, but the cutting power can’t be overlooked.
As some have stated, Hanwei’s idea of “sharp” really differs from my definition, but I invested in a belt sander a few years ago and it wasn’t much effort to put a really good edge on it. If you can’t put an edge on it yourself, you may opt to have KoA sharpen it for you… they have done a good job for me in the past.
Now that I have this sword, I wish that I had set my mind to get one sooner. Its is a spectacular first longsword, and great for someone who has collected dozens of them. I can’t recommend this sword highly enough!