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.
Lazule –
The spear head is good but Kult of Athena’s sharpening service was weak. All in all this is a very nice budget spear head especially if you want to cut & trust. The spear penetrates very nicely but it bad at cutting, I tried cutting bottles filled with water and after many tries it didn’t clean cut any of them & I know it wasn’t my edge alignment I slashed several bottles very carefully, my problem wasn’t the spear head it was Kult of Athena’s sharpening. It didn’t come with nicely sharpened edges… I guess I’ll have to sharpen it myself.
Bottom line: It’s a good spear! But if you want to use it for cutting you will have to sharpen it yourself!
Fred "Ulfmundstrond" –
Hewing spear head review, correction on one measurement. Ok, first thing is first, the correction, the socket is about 1″ or 1 1/16″ on the INSIDE; I think the description might have measured across the socket’s out edges. A small error.
On to the head it’s self. I only got the head mounted tonight so I can’t comment to how it preforms (it is -30f right now). I should mention I am a blacksmith and I am rather picky with my steel.
First impressions: It is bloody long! I’m a pretty big guy at 6’2″ and 230ish pounds. From the tip to the end of the socket it lays from my middle finger to half way up my bicep with my arm outstretched. As I read in another review on another website “if you’re ever using it and the shaft breaks, you still have a short sword!” very true words! I also ordered the 8′ ash spear shaft for this. I think the 5′ would have done me just fine for my desired length, but better to have more than you need than not enough in my opinion. I cut the shaft down so the point was at the 8′ mark, ended up taking about 19-20″ off.
Fit, finish, craftsmanship: This is a $35 spear head, you do get what you pay for. If you are looking for a hand forged spear head then up your budget considerably. All that being said it is quite nice and sturdy. you can tell it was ground from one or two pieces of metal. on mine there are small imperfections and nicks in the steel, none of them enough to snag a cloth on, but you can see them. This is a mass produced item, I expect this. the grind on the blade is a bit wavy on mine, you can’t see it unless you look at the way light reflects on the blade at a VERY shallow angle, you certainly can’t feel it running you hand over the head. The socket spine on the blade was asymmetrical on one side of mine. Again, you kind of have to look for that, but not very hard.
On sharpening: As the other review has mentioned if you option for the sharpening it will come with a “pocketknife” edge, one that does not or gradually flow to the center line; like the edge on a pocketknife. This was done on a grinding wheel and is a perfectly legitimate way to quickly add an edge to just about anything. As I have stated above I haven’t tried slashing or stabbing anything as of yet; but out of the box I wouldn’t want to get hit by this, even accidentally. In fact, I was somewhat worried enough that I put several layers of masking tape over the edges until I can make a leather sheath for it.
Conclusion: For the money this isn’t bad at all. A 1″ or so shaft will work better than a 1 1/8″, at least in my opinion. The edge is pretty sharp, you might want to sharpen it more than KoA does; no, I wouldn’t try shaving with it.
Would I order another? If I wanted one or had use for it, yes. If this one ever is lost, yes.
Mark M. –
Fun project spear…. I’ve always wanted a big spear…..and, boy….I got one. This thing is huge! I mounted mine on a 5′ shaft along with a Windlass tapered butt-cap, and it makes for a very formidable weapon. I used leather lacing to tie a piece of deer antler on the head, just below the blade, crossways as a guard….boar spear style. It looks and feels awesome. I opted out of sharpening, but mine has a wicked stabbing point. Buy two….one for display, and one for killing a hay bale or a block of Styrofoam!……McM
Alicia M. –
Fantastic! I recently received my order of this spearhead along with the Greek buttcap. It really is a large spearhead, but it is AWESOME. We attached it to a 5 ft. standard replacement broom handle that already had one end tapered in and it worked beautifully. The Greek buttcap is a great counterbalance and ideal for completing the look. We also had it pre-sharpened and the other reviewers were right, it’s a basic sharpness but if you’re looking to truly get a clean cut with it, you’ll need to sharpen it more yourself. Still, it came with a decent sharpness for only paying $10. Both pieces came without defects and have a gorgeous sheen to them!
Jason –
Super fast shipping!! I just got mine at the time of this review and I very impressed. The edge was good for some basic tests right out of the box and It held up fine. I can’t wait to mount it and do battle against my water filled plastic foes!!
beowulf848 –
Nice blade, poor quality socket I’ve had mine for quite some time and did some testing on light/squishy targets. I put it to the real test for the first time yesterday and I was pretty disappointed. The blade itself cuts quite nicely. However, after a few thrusts into harder targets, the tip deformed pretty bad. This is easily fixed with a hammer and anvil. What is rather difficult to fix happened when I tried to use the hewing spear to, well, hew something. It bent quite a bit right at the top of the socket where it is welded to the main bulk of the blade. Trying to get a pipe to be straight after it’s been bent is tough. Trying to straighten a conical pipe is not something I can do. Now I have a rather useless spear head that serves better as a makeshift short sword. I would not buy this again.
J. Cherry –
Not strong enough….. Have purchased two and both have bent severely where socket meets blade. One on poor edge alignment against single mat, one against thick water jug. They thrust fine but not strong enough for “hewing”
Planescaped –
Great for the price, and those with realistic expectations These spears will bend with use, but so would historical spears. We don’t have easy access to blacksmiths these days to make repairs, but Kult of Athena’s price makes replacement not much of an issue.
Realistically, this spear is perfectly fine. Not extraordinary, but not bad in the slightest. Just bend the spear straight again if/when it gets crooked, and replace the thing when/if needed. But you’ll get plenty of hard use out of it in the meantime.