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.
connor.bulakites –
Great Craftsmanship Although I have not tested cutting anything substantial with this saber (as I purchased it mainly for the purpose of collecting rather than its supposed battle readiness), its construction definitely appears to be rather sturdy, and the blade is just flexible enough for me to assume that it could stand up to a decent amount of abuse. From an aesthetic perspective, I find the Saber to be very beautiful and the craftsmanship to be top notch. The grip and the guard are both very sturdy and elegant, and the inscriptions on the blade are definitely something to look at. Again, I’m no expert, but everything about the saber looks to be authentic as there are no big “Made in India” inscriptions or brand names anywhere on it like I’ve seen on cheaper replicas in antique shops and the like. I should note that the saber definitely feels a bit heavier than I initially expected it to be, but you get used to it pretty quickly after a little bit of handling.
Richard Thompson (verified owner) –
The sword arrived late, and a ticket regarding the order was not answered. The scabbard has no liner whatsoever making it worthless, and damaging to the sword. Literally, steel on steel, so every pull from the scabbard scratches and damages the blade further. The blade itself was poorly sharpened with a noticeable secondary bevel, the blade itself was scratched up, and the blade inscriptions were damaged by the lack of liner in the scabbard, or possibly the sharpening process. I paid good money for a scratched sword with a worthless scabbard. I will not be purchasing again.
David W –
Hi Richard – I’m sorry you received a bad blade – that should not happen. Please reach out to us at orders@kultofathena.com or help@kultofathena.com
Fred Pai (verified owner) –
This saber is beautiful! But, it’s also kind of a beast to handle. I personally don’t recommend this for your first saber since it clearly isn’t designed to be a fencing weapon that you can practice your HEMA techniques with; it’s a strong, beefy sword that is clearly designed to cut and cleave from horseback with a very forward point of balance and hefty weight that’s almost three pounds. When swinging this around, you will definitely feel it in your arm and makes a great “workout” sword if you want to work on your arm strength.
Regarding its quality and construction, for the price it’s pretty good but can be a little crude in a few areas on the grip. The pommel area has a weird jagged shape where the brass meets the leather that on mine was very blocky and when gripping the sword in the so-called “saber grip” can dig into the rear fingers uncomfortably if you like to hold the sword low on the grip with the pinky and ring finger. Also, the grip wrap on mine jutted out a little bit and felt a little uncomfortable to grip. With that said, those issues are pretty easy to fix by simply taking some sandpaper to those rough areas and smoothing them out which makes the grip smoother and much better feeling in the hand.
The blade is decent and looks very nice and will probably be an aggressive cutter if sharpened. I didn’t order mine sharp, but I did try to cut a large cardboard box with it while dull and it surprisingly enough was able to put a pretty clean cut in the box with minimal effort even while dull! If you do try to sharpen it yourself, I will say that you have a lot of work ahead of you since the sword unsharpened has a lot of material to remove. My angle finder measured the edge at about 30-35 degrees dull. It’s probably best to add the sharpening service from KOA if you really want this sword sharp to save yourself time.
Besides that, I really like this sword’s basket guard and scabbard, they’re both very functional while also being works of art and KOA was VERY quick in sending the sword to me.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with this purchase!