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.
Doug M. –
Beautiful sword, but get the non-blued version instead. I fell in love with this sword when I first saw it, and felt compelled to buy it. That being said, the sword was a bit of a letdown. While it looks a dark grey in the pictures provided, don’t be fooled. The blade is an almost stark black, which was a turnoff for me. The guard is also fraction off center and the pommel is a tiny bit crooked. The edge was also fairly dull and did not impress with basic cutting. That being said, its still a very beautiful sword design, with an elegant pommel, graceful blade taper, and long grip. The shape of it, for me, is the perfect aesthetic design, but I would suggest going for the non-blued version instead.
Damian Mountjoy –
Excellent sword. Love the bluing. This sword is fantastic. It’s balanced well and sword-sharp. It won’t cut paper, but a sword shouldn’t if you want the edge to stay nice. It’ll slay bottles and meat with absolutely no problem, and hold up very well. The pommel was a teeny tiny bit crooked, but since it’s a nut pommel, you can adjust it accordingly.
The design is fantastic. I love the longsword look. It is fairly large though, certainly at least a hand and a half sword. Which is what a “longsword” should be.
The color and finish of the blade is extremely similar to polished Obsidian, which I find to be gorgeous. I’m not sure how well it’ll hold up in the long run, but as of right now it looks great!
The sheath isn’t bad either. Looks sharp and keeps it safe, just don’t store it in there. The thing is very tight, and I’m sure you’d get rust if you did.
Thomas P. –
Great sword, for the price I managed to actually get this thing for $180 off of Amazon, which I would consider a steal for a functional high-carbon blade, especially of this size. That being said there are some concessions that had to be made, the scabbard feels to be faux leather (though the handle feels real) and fits noticeably loosely into it. The actual construction of the hilt furniture feels sturdy enough with the grip epoxied or otherwise attached to the tang.
As for the black (because yes, it is black, not blue) coating, that is a bit polarizing. Some people love it, others don’t. I didn’t much care for it and thus spent a couple of hours sanding and buffing the blade, guard, and pommel so that it was just a plain steel. Though some will like the look of the black, or just that the coating will help to prevent rust to the steel.
The actual sword itself, the design that is, has a very heavy taper and is made of 1055 rather than a spring steel, and is thus far more adept at the thrust than the cut, being rather stiff and lacking the mass at the CoP to really deliver devastating cuts, so this is perhaps another thing to consider.
peter s. –
Love it! I read the reviews here and decided to purchase one because it fit in my budget at the time. If you are considering one read the other reviews. The sword I received arrived as near perfect as it could be. Nothing loose, everything in line. I didn’t have it sharpened but it sharpened it at home in no time. My wife and I prefer the black finish and it is truly black so if you don’t like that get the other one. We purchased this model as a cutter for outside use and are very happy with the handling, finish and quality for the price.
Daniel –
Solid, but with issues Overall it’s a solidly built functional sword that requires almost no maintenance thanks to its bluing.
The blade on my sword has 3 issues that may not be present on all of them:
Edge geometry is really bad out of the box, almost 90° angle on the edge, it can’t even cut cardboard, but this can be fixed with grinding.
Temper is soft, I can bend it with my hands and it stays that way.
And finally it’s tip heavy, maybe that extra mass is because mine came practically blunt so this also could be fixed with grinding.
The grip also has a couple of issues, it is wide and thin near the crossguard and the stitching sticks out so it’s not the nicest sword to hold in the hand.
Ryan bennett (verified owner) –
I purchased this sword about a month ago and straight out of the box It was clear that it was a black coating not bluing of the steel , a few test cuts with the “factory* sharpening option proved the edge was wrong , not to mention 2 and a ¼ inches of the tip pinged off the 2nd cut , from close inspection it was a bad heat treat , I know now to spend more on longswords than I had with this poor tool.