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.
Lt. M. –
Good Buckler Great price for a sword-tempered buckler. Nice weight & feel. Redirects blows easily and is of an effective size, not being too large or too small. Of course that is a matter of preference. The steel is of good thickness and will certainly be more sturdy and hold up longer than its mild steel counterparts despite being thinner as the steel is much tougher and will flex back if bent. The fit and finish is done well, there is some imperfections/hammer marks and such like, nothing that can’t be seen in the pictures. I really enjoy that in a buckler personally, and see such things as a testament to its hand-made nature. The antiqued bluing is nice, it looks better in person I think, not at all like an appliqué. The handle is again of good size and constructed well, same with the riveting and whatnot. This is a very nice item from Windlass if you’re looking for a carbon steel sword-tempered buckler as a mass produced item, as I haven’t been able to find any others aside from having one made for me for a higher price and a wait time. I also had the pleasure of receiving excellent service from Kult of Athena. I ordered in to Canada and received my item in four business days and my shipping time was quoted to be 4-7. I will definitely be ordering from KoA again, it was a pleasure.
Kristen A. –
Problematic We bought these as a pair of club bucklers for HEMA and have had some issues. There are bolts beneath the handle where it attaches that became loose almost immediately and they are a little difficult to tighten. The biggest problem though is that the bucklers bent and deformed rather easily. It’s possible we got a pair that weren’t tempered as well or properly, but our single-handed swords (2-2.5 pounds, made for HEMA and not heavy armored stuff) took great big gouges out of the steel and dents on the dome and face. They haven’t fallen apart and the light weight was one of the pluses, but it takes some maintenance to keep everything the right shape and just to make sure they don’t become dangerous with burrs on the edges from hits.
Assuming we didn’t get anything on the softer temper side, I definitely couldn’t recommend this for anything heavy. Really the ones we have I’d only deem suitable for drilling if we didn’t have someone who could repair them regularly.