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.
Friedrich –
Happy with this sword Wonderful sword. I previously bought this sword direct from Deepeeka and it had a chipped peen, so I had to return it. But when I bought it again (from KoA) everything was wonderful, thanks to KoA’s excellent quality control. It’s solid, I love the weight, balance, blade profile, grip, pommel, everything about it – scabbard too. Can’t go wrong with this sword for the price. Someday I’d like to get an Albion version of this sword but I’m happy with this one in the meantime.
Craig E. –
Much better than expected! I bought a munitions grade one, I figured for the price it would be worth a try. To be honest I really didn’t expect to be so excited about a three and a half pound Deepeeka sword. If you hold the sword it’s heavy, but when you swing it you forget that. It is very well balanced and much quicker than I thought a sword this weight could be. I’m a fairly strong guy for being middle aged but this sword really didn’t give me the workout I was expecting when I was enjoying swinging it around for the better part of an hour. Construction seems very sturdy with a very solid peen. It has decent taper out to the point, not overly thick. It should sharpen up without having to remove too much metal, but will take a fair amount of work. Deepeeka has really come a long way in overall quality in recent years, some models being much better than others though. I really like this Hersir viking sword, it feels so much better than expected and it makes me feel like going full Viking when I get it swinging!
Sam F. –
Solidly-built “replica” I use the word “replica” with caution, because I know this sword isn’t necessarily trying to emulate any specific other sword. But I call it a “replica” because — even as rugged as it’s built — I don’t feel like it’s a “real” sword. And I don’t mean to slam it at all. For the price, it is a very solidly-built, visually accurate, aesthetically pleasing representation of a sword of what we might call the “Viking Age” (I prefer to call these “Carolingian Era swords”, but I’m being pedantic).
But it has some small design problems that take away from both its historical accuracy and its functionality:
— The blade, at least on the unsharpened version that I received, has no distal taper of which to speak. That obviously impacts both the overall weight and the point of balance.
— The grip is probably 1cm or so too long. Not that there aren’t examples of swords of this period with grips this long, but I feel like this would be an outlier.
— Because of things like the lack of distal taper and the longer grip, etc., the overall weight of the sword is higher than is probably accurate. At about 1.6kg, it’s at the upper end of the examples we have. That’s not to say that there weren’t ANY swords of this type from this period that weighed this much, but from my research 900-1200g is probably more like the average.
All of that said, it’s still a great sword for the price. It’s built like a tank, and it’s visually very representative of this type of sword from history. It may sound like I’m picking on it, but I honestly think it’s a good deal for the price and the little issues don’t bother me at all. I don’t even remotely regret buying it, although it does make me want to spend a bit more on a more accurate “Viking sword” in the future.
B. –
This sword is NOT battle ready. I was very happy with the dirt cheap price and the over all design even though the handle is a bit long for my tastes. I didn’t have an edge put on it as I overlooked the option when I ordered it. I get it out and swing it in the air every so often practicing cuts and edge alignment. Recently I had a thin branch over hanging my yard and swung towards the end of it where it was thinnest and the blade broke off at the guard. Only used a light swing which did no damage at all to the edge, this is the first time it’s ever come in contact with anything and it snapped. I know it’s next to impossible to find an actual sword for under $500 but I expected it to be usable with the label “battle ready”. This is nothing more then a wall hanger and I would advise against it if you plan to use it for more then decoration.
I did read Kult of Athena’s description of battle ready:
What does Battle Ready mean?
Swords marked as “Battle Ready” are made to a higher standard than your average display weapons using carbon steel. They are functional weapons designed to cut and not just be hung on a wall.
Our battle ready swords are not indestructible; they should not be used for blade to blade combat, see more info below.
Swords like this should have no problem with branches, it’s not like I was chopping down a tree with it.
Philippe –
Simple but very well made and solid. A warrior sword.
I create a video of it…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLyPluVvGeY
MadIrish (verified owner) –
I had wanted a low cost Viking sword for some project work. At $143, I got a low cost sword, sure, but wound up returning it.
Overall, it exceeded my relatively low expectations for Deepeeka, but I returned it becuase the blade was even more of a mess than I should have expected at full price.
The thing just feels heavy and unwieldy to me. I’m dealing with a shoulder injury atm so not swinging it around aggressively (and I’m a newb), but it feels like a wrist breaker to me…as expected and reported by others. There is zero distal taper on this thing and any variations in thickness are due to the inconsistent hammering of the blade. It is a slab of steel with a handle
In general, the fit an finish were about what I expected at that price point…rough, but ready. The scabbard looks pretty good, if it rattles like a maraca. If you don’t look too closely, the hilt furnishings look pretty good, too. Everything was tightly applied and well aligned. General blade characteristics are pretty much what I expected overall, too.
My biggest knock was the blade. I expected all the ripples and hammer marks, but both edges literally undulated like snakes rising and dipping above the plane of the flat of the blade. The last 1/3rd of the blade was also twisted out of plane. I ordered it blunt with the idea that I might sharpen it later, but I’m wondering how anyone could readily sharpen this thing.
Disappointed in KoA for turning this out as a standard grade piece. However, their Customer Service was good to work with and they took the sword back for refund.
Reidifyrr (verified owner) –
okay so its not horrible but it does have its flaws first of which it has no distal taper which makes it incredibly forward heavy second its sheath its wayyy to tight and you have to strain to even pull it out but on to the pros its a decent training sword it could be used for hema but with its weight you might need extra padding this sword would be good for armored combat like huskarl fighting and buhurt. the sword is pretty well put together but one flaw i saw in the construction was the pommel is a little lopsided and there is a little bit of the wire poking out which catches on clothing. its a good sword for its price even with its flaws thats why i gave it 3 stars…
James (verified owner) –
I bought this sword not expecting much as I knew from reviews it would be overweight and have a poorly made blade, and I got what I expected… but as I had planned on reshaping the blade I didn’t care..To my surprise, it’s weight was much less than described @2lb 12oz after I did some work on it it’s now 2lb 10oz which it quite good the pob is at 3.75 inches which is very good too..the pommel and guard are ok..the guard was a little loose that I’ll fix but the blade has a warp while looking down it’s edge from the hilt..from hilt to tip about an inch..also the grip is too long. I only bought this sword as I had a store credit..honestly if your thinking of buying this sword save your money and get something with better quality unless you just want to work on it after you buy it…