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.
Minokawa –
Great stuff for Belegarth / Dagorhir! Something that always bugged me about butted mail was that the armpit sections would burst open if you used a wide range of shots when sword-fighting. Riveted mail stays in one piece, and it lets me stand out a bit more in a crowd.
“out of the box” (It came in saran wrap) it was missing 3 rings, and a 4th was missing a rivet. That being said, 4 odd-balls out of a few thousand rings is still pretty good, especially for under 300 dollars.
Kult of Athena has a longstanding good record with me, and I look forward to getting more in the future!
Aaron –
Great quality/price. This is a good quality piece for the price. Be mindful that it will require a lot of initial cleaning as it come covered in a pretty nasty oil.
Erik V. –
Good Value, holds up well I’ve been using this piece for about 3 years now, because of the blackening it’s just starting to show rust. The finish does help
I recommend buying a size bigger then you think you need just to make it easier to get on and off. Also helps if you need some extra length. I’m 6’5″ and the large came about 4″ past my waist but was a little shorter then I liked.
The dome rivets also catch on the other rings, so it tends to bunch up making it difficult to get on and off by myself. I need help about a third of the time.
Overall happy with it.
Connor (verified owner) –
Excellent for an off-the-shelf maille shirt. A few loose rivets fell out at first, but never any more. The sleeves are too baggy, but that is expected from a pre-made shirt. This makes for a great project to tailor and lengthen the sleeves with maille rings of my own making.
Skiranger (verified owner) –
I am very happy with this item. Very well constructed with no ring loss so far. Fits right, not that hard to get on and off.
Quite heavy, will be a challenge to wear for a whole weekend.
I went kind of nuts here at Kult of Athena and spent close to $2000 in a short time, buying items for modification and LARP.
Im a mostly satisfied customer, and will be reviewing the items I have purchased.
Cranck Lord (verified owner) –
Overall great for the price, it was missing 1 ring that I noticed, and there were a few missing rivets, which isn’t bad at all, all things considered. It fits pretty well but the sleeves are quite baggy, and a little too long for the anglo-saxon look I was going for, but still all-around very nice. Lord of Battles is always pretty good for the price.