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.
N Fiend –
Given that there are no reviews for this piece, I will give my opinion. I bought directly from LK Chen, and I cannot praise the customer service highly enough. The piece itself is beautiful in its simplicity and grace of form. It came hair shaving sharp, and while I am far from trained, even I can feel how lively and responsive the blade is in the hand.
The scabbard deserves special mention. It is incredibly well fitted; perfect tightness, in that it holds without grabbing. No rattles, either in the scabbard or on the sword itself. Everything is rock solid; I can believe that this was designed for military application 2000 years ago. LK Chen claims this as his masterpiece, and I am inclined to agree.
Jordan (verified owner) –
I’m incredibly impressed with this sword. The scabbard is very snug, no rattle worth mentioning (it’s almost impossible to have zero rattle) and the fit is perfectly symmetrical. If you take the sword out of the scabbard and turn it 180 degrees and put it back in, it still had a flawless fit. Slight flaws in a couple spots on the paint of the scabbard (mainly the line where the color changes) but minor. The metal bar piece at the cord wrap is glued in place, which I prefer instead of wiggling.
The blade came plenty sharp and did have several tiny scuffs on the edge between 1 to 2 mm in size. I have read that LK Chen does cut test with their blades before shipping so it could be from that or from sharpening or it may have been a return that I got that someone else cut with; not sure. Only noticeable if the light catches it a certain way and even then, minor. I did not cut with this sword but online videos of testing I have seen from several sources leads me to believe this model was also perfectly capable.
The fittings were all very well done and the wrap job on the handle is also quite good. I’ve got good sized hands (about a 4″ wide pad/palm) and the handle is sufficient for two hands. I do wish it was just an inch or two longer but it’s not a real problem. It is more thin than I expected at the upper half, having more of the diamond shape of the blade than oval shaped as I was expecting. Still perfectly comfortable to wield, just different. The way it flares out on the bottom half is great; very comfortable for a hand and a half grip and allows for a wider range of movement and hand positions. LK Chen stated this to be their masterpiece of this series and I can see why.
I received this at the same time as a Cloudhammer/Byzer Jian and the Flying Phoenix had very noticeably better fit and finish. Apart from a couple very small sloppy parts with the paint on the scabbard, really a flawless sword and scabbard. The Byzer/Cloudhammer Jian however had worse paint on the scabbard, it rattled considerably and the sword fit wasn’t nearly as tight and not symmetrical (you can only fit it in properly as if it was a single edged blade; probably about 1/8″ exposed blade on one side if you didn’t put it in ‘correctly’). To be fair, it was my first purchase from both companies, so I may have gotten a ‘hit’ with LK Chen and a ‘miss’ with Cloudhammer/Byzer. Hard to say.
I can’t imagine anyone who thinks they might want this sword regretting their purchase. Just get it! Most reviewers who have handled far more blades than I ever will have stated it hits way above it’s price point in quality. I would expect these to get more expensive in the not too distant future.