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.
Jeff w. –
A Good Helmet I’ve looked at this helmet for quite some time and finally purchased it recently. I’ve used it in some sparring sessions and in tournament fighting too and it’s construction is very solid. The look of the helmet is good,though not quite like the original find.Nevertheless, it looks nice and is a good enough representation of a period helmet. The mail aventail is composed of riveted links, which further adds to its period-enough appeal. Face protection is not complete,but decent. Visibility and breathing is perfect in the helmet. The only real issue is the nose piece. GDFB needs to angle it out away from the face like the original find, because this can make the helmet uncomfortable without adding/adjusting some padding to cause it to sit on the head in such a way as to give the nose some room. Furthermore, the nose piece is so re-enforced (normally a good thing) that the rest of the helmet will flex before any chance of angling out the nose piece. It will not budge. The nose guard is the only real problem, otherwise, this is a very good helmet in function and construction for a helmet representative of the period.Spar at your own risk as this is an “open face” helmet, but I am glad that I purchased the helmet.
Louis L. –
A Solid Helm This is a very solidly constructed helmet and is visually impressive. Skallagrim on YouTube did a destructive test on this helmet and it took an extreme amount of punishment. It has a pretty good liner inside, but you will need an arming cap to prevent the leather thong at the crown of the liner from digging into your head after a few minutes. The only really major issue is that the nasal really leaves no room for the nose – you nose ends up crammed against it, and is not comfortable. I plan to try bending it outward more using a vice padded with leather on the jaws, and trying to bend it outward that way, but the nasal is the most heavily reinforced portion of the helmet, so this may not work. Otherwise, this helm is really quite good. The aventail is round ring riveted mail of about 16 gauge rings, and I found this was a very nice touch.
SD1612 –
I like this helmet, but holy cow is it big! I have probably a slightly more than average size head and this thing looks massive still.
Really wish they had made this in an optional smaller size.
Aside from that, it’s an impressive helmet, sturdy and detailed.
TheodenRex –
I purchased this helm recently and could not be more pleased. I did have to adjust the nasal guard a bit as it originally compressed my nose uncomfortably, but that was corrected easily. The helm fits and looks terrific and is extremely well made. The authentic Latin inscription on the crown brass work is impressive. It is a fantastic addition to my collection.