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.
Newarcher (verified owner) –
Bought the blemished grade, does have 2 blemishes other than the minor nothings this sword is awsome, quality scabbard and sword, a very fine sword. I have probably 25 swords, this is number one. Very thick ricasso as many originals are so it is heavy at the grip, wrist strengthening needed to wield but I won’t be wielding this sword in a sword fight, again it’s just an awsome piece.
Jarod Masci (verified owner) –
Every Sword-Tuber out there has already said it: this thing is amazing. Before LK Chen, your options were a pretty wall-hanger (Windlass) or a $2K+ high end Arms&Armor piece. That’s a lot to invest even if you’re really positive you want one. This sword comes in and delivers a historically accurate affordable replica with every blade stat maxed out to 100 out of 100. Sharpness, single continuous bevel, tempering, geometry, durability. Is the hilt finish perfect? No. But the bare blade and simple scabbard are easily worth double the msrp. The complex hilt is cast/sandblasted, but shaped correctly. Mainly it’s an absolutely devastating weapon. Badassery in rapier form? Sign me up!
Knud A Haraldsted (verified owner) –
I held off on buying this initially because I did not like the idea of a stainless steel guard with the rough grey sand blasted finish. I fixed that ( see below ) . Right out of the box the blade by itself is worth more than KOA’s price. The wire grip is gorgeous. The complex hilt is very strong. The hilt bars are beautifully ridged. If they were round bar stock then the knuckle side would correspond roughly to 1/4 inch round rod and on the thumb side 3/8 inch round . I cannot bend one foot long pieces of 1/4″or 3/8″ stainless steel rods with my bare hands. Casting the complex hilt in one piece like this would certainly be stronger than what they did in the 1500’s where they would have hammered hot pieces of iron or mild steel together. Higher carbon steel would need much more heat and big heavy hammers which would be unrealistic for making a complex hilts.
What did I do about the very rough sandblasted complex guard ? I bought a needle file set from Amazon ( $ 14 ) and filed off the casting marks and the sandblasting. It has taken some time but the result is breathtaking. It shines. Even my wife thinks is beautiful. Not a mirror polish ( but they would not have done that often in the past ). When you do this sort of thing it’s important to know when to stop .
Is this a typical rapier ? I am not sure that such a thing exists. Historical pieces show great variation . In the 1500′ s there could easily be war when there was not supposed to be war. Powerful families and factions competing for money and power. Murder was just a day at the office . Dark city streets could be places where you might have to fight as if you were in a war. You may not have wanted to go around with a breastplate , gauntlets , and a two handed war sword in the city , but something with cut and thrust authority could be nice. This sword would do nicely. The generous hilt size allows for both and hammer and ricasso grips. For example if someone grabs you could lift the hilt high and thrust down using the hammer ( shank ) grip. Vikings in a shield wall. The ricasso grip is good for lunge thrusts.
After a bit of detail work this sword exceeds all my expectations and is worth much more than I paid. Thanks KOA and LK Chen.
David Thackshire –
Absolutely stunning. I was amazed at the quality and light weight feel of the Saxony rapier. It is very long and so very good to have a high quality frog but I absolutely love this. I’m definitely getting the lk chen munich sword next