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.
eternalstudent83 (verified owner) –
Excellent Rapier! I’ve put my Hanwei Swept Hilt Renaissance Rapier through some reasonable tests upon receiving it. (By the way, it came exceptionally fast, well-packaged and I had excellent customer service, throughout the purchase process).
1. Handling: The point of balance is between one inch and 1 3/8 inches from the hilt. I found this rapier to be surgically accurate; when my technique is sound, the point goes precisely where I desire. I use the index finger over the ricasso with my grip and it feels very comfortable, especially with the leather spoiling my finger, even when I make cuts.
2. Blade integrity: Is it too floppy? No, it is not too floppy, it is certainly flexible and resilient but as I stabbed and slashed at some of my archery and knife throwing targets which are much more substantial than cardboard and the surface thicker than most clothing the results were superb, I penetrated the targets with my body weight behind the blade without the blade bending in the obscene way that some flimsy rapiers will do.
I executed around 50 thrusts into these targets without having any issue, even when I used very relaxed thrusts at half speed. I divided these thrusts equally among the 4 commonly used guards, coming in palm out, down, in and up respectively to see if I would get the blade to bend on any of the angles of entry but all thrusts were true, drove the target and wooden stand it was on back without bending the blade.
Can it cut: Without any additional sharpening, I wondered if I could in fact cut with this rapier as is. What I found is that I can cut if I drag the punta and debole quickly across the surface of what I want to cut, Like Zorro leaving his Z mark, in that regard it did a good job of destroying my archery target I will likely have to tape it closed soon. It does not have the slashing power of a saber or machete (as a rapier its focus is thrusts) but for the mandritto and reverso cuts done with the debole and punta portion of the blade it has some cutting function, if it were sharpened further, it would certainly be capable of cutting deeper.
How strong is the pommel, ricasso and swept hilt: I took the time to bash some targets with the pommel, the ricasso and the swept hilt portions to see if I could confidently rely on such tactics. I would certainly not wish to receive such blows, they held up well and the power transfer was solid, no weird rebounding force into my grip.
The Scabbard: It has a wooden core and is solid and well done, no fitting or quality issues at all.