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.
Terry R. –
Worth many times the price I ordered this war hammer after I noticed it was less than an a quarter of the price of hammers of similar style. I saved even more by ordering a “scratch & dent special.” To say I am pleased is an understatement. This is a wonderful, historically-accurate war hammer I’m proud to display and/or use. There are slight imperfections which make it look like an actual medieval war hammer, and not a modern replica. The heavy, metal hammer and thick, strong hardwood handle will last several lifetimes. Overall, I could not be happier with this purchase. And the service from Kult of Athena was fast and excellent, as always!
Colt –
A lovely War Hammer This is a fantastic well made hammer. I made a review about it to see more of this hammer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxcnKiwFrD8&feature=youtu.be
edt3456 –
Unbelievable! I was skeptical on buying this at first because it was cheap priced. After I ordered it I could not believe how solid and strong it was. Bothe the metal and wood handle look and feel strong. Great price for the quality! it is defiantly worth buying!
GJ –
Nice hammer Very hefty, brutal angles. The downsides are: lack of hard wood and spotty fit and finish (the parts don’t always meet nicely or line up perfectly, depending on the individual specimen). Normally I’d detract 2 stars for this, but at the price point, it’s still worth the risk!
Cody B. –
Solid This warhammer rocks. It’s extremely solid. I’ve destroyed shields, logs, and cement blocks with this thing and it’s still as strong as the day I got it.
Darrell Martens –
Decent tool for the job, NOT a show piece. When I got this warhammer a few months back, I noticed it was not symmetrical everywhere, but nothing that would effect performance. The butt cap with the small spike was not even close to being aligned with the wooden shaft. Also one of the langets had a 2 inch long cavity, about half an inch deep, and 5mm wide, that created a gap between it and the shaft. The shaft had a inch and a half section on one of it’s corners chipped off. This is NOT a hammer to show off to friends. While feeling mostly sturdy, I am sure if you were to swing it the wrong way, and hit with all your force the wooden shaft would disintegrate. This is coming from a guy who snapped a wooden Kendo sword in two hits on a tree, full force.
Aaron J. –
Good for the price This war hammer does it’s job. Some of the parts are a little crooked and the whole thing has a very rough quality to it, but none of that affects functionality as this is a tool for smashing things.
Daniel –
A tough and heavy warhammer This warhammer is loosely based on an example at the Wallace Collection, which is suspected to be a cut down poleaxe, and it shows, since it’s overweight and oversized, being about 100g heavier than the already heavy original.
Mine is slightly different than the pictures, it has twice the amount of rivets in the head: two on the langets and two holding the spike.
The finish of the head is rough, there are grind marks and rust spots here and there, the spike is missaligned and it doesn’t fit properly to the head, having a noticeable gap on the sides, it also came loose after a few hits but the rivets are still intact so there’s no chance of it coming off.
T.F –
Nice hammer, not very neat I was hesitant to not leave a 4 star review. I put this at 3 stars as the fit and finish is less than stellar. The wood haft has marring, the pins securing it are not centered/ flush or even and the metal portions have denting/scratching. I acknowledge that for the price the expectations should not be that high. Just advising of the imperfections. I like the fact that the wooden grip section is hexagonal in shape rather than square. At the 60 dollar price point, it is a pretty sweet hammer of destruction.
Terry R. –
Review of a review I’ve already written one review of this war hammer, but please permit me a few other observations.
I noticed the hammer I bought has twice as many rivets as the one illustrated on the Kult of Athena website – making an already strong weapon even stronger. I’m always impressed when a company changes a product for the better.
I’m a bit perplexed when collectors of medieval weapon replicas denigrate an item because it is not perfect, has flaws in the metal, etc.
I find this criticism bizarre. I consider perfection in a medieval weapon a terrible fault.
Medieval weapons were hand made by metal smiths in a primitive setting; medieval artisans did not have auto-cad, modern metallurgy, modern steel, furnaces, or any of today’s casting/forging technology.
Therefore, true reproductions of these products will not be perfect.
This is also my problem with swords manufactured with computer technology. Are they actually swords? Or are they simply modern weapons which appear to be swords?