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.
Ken –
a helping hand on a budget i bought these from another retailer, but i can say i have used these hands for 2 years and they have worked very well, the bell of the mitten is very stout. these have been used for hema drills and bouting. i have used them in two tournaments and they are going strong.
Joshua G. –
My first gauntlets; additional dimensions provided First, I’d like to help fill in some knowledge gaps due to the light documentation on this site regarding dimensions. I don’t have a scale, but these gauntlets shipped at an approximate weight of 9 pounds total. The length from the top of the knuckle plate to the inner side of the bottom cuff is 13 inches. From the backside, where the cuff protrudes a bit further, it is 13.5 inches. The diameter of the roughly circular entry is 5.5 inches and will fit over a heavy gambeson (like the 13th Century one from Lord of Battles I also bought) easily. All four pieces of leather bolted to the armor are about 3/32 inches thick.
The provided leather gloves are men’s large: 10 inches circumference across and around the palm. Top root of thumb to the tip of the index finger is 5.25 inches. The glove laid flat is about 15 inches, but it is worth noting that a smaller-sized hand such as mine needed to dig further into the plate gauntlets with them to have appropriate articulation and the glove will likely just manage to cover between your arm and the plate from the inner side of the cuff.
I purchased these for the dual purpose of slowly building up to a legitimate dress-up set as a man-of-war AND for HEMA purposes. These gauntlets appear up to the task.
The plates come well-greased out of the box and allow a wide range of motion as advertised. While I do experience a bit of obstruction in articulation when handling a hand-and-a-half sword due to occasional plate collisions (certain guards and transitions were harder to keep and make than others… I could see myself favoring lower guards more often while armored now since zwerchhau from the Ochs stance proved difficult), I was briefly surprised by how the sudden addition of weight on my hands seemed to make wielding my sword a bit smoother. Even so, they are weighty and I am a bit scrawny, so the additional agility comes at the cost of endurance along with dexterity. I’ve found myself another way to weight train, it seems.
Doffing them is as easy as slipping out while equipping them is just a bit finicky. I might recommend putting on the leather gloves by themselves first, followed by weaving the fingers and thumbs into the plate one-by-one.
mud9157 (verified owner) –
The quality of the gauntlets is good, but mine came completely missing the palm strap, making them practically useless. The gloves are also far too large for me, but I found a way around this using a second layer of gloves. I would recommend them, but be ready to potentially replace the gloves for a better fit and make sure they’re not missing a strap before it’s too late to return them.