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.
Thomas Ford –
I owned this sword briefly before returning it to KoA. It’s a beautiful piece, and seems to be well-assembled, but it was sent to me with a large portion of the blade (in fact, the entire point section along both edges, about 5-6 inches or so on each edge) completely unsharpened. Not dull – unsharpened, with no bevels to speak of. I could literally run my fingers along it without being in any danger of harm.
I own three other Albion swords, and of those three, only two are really sharp (the Crecy has AN edge, but not a great one, and certainly not one I’d expect from a nearly $1,000 sword). Ultimately, the manufacturer, Albion, is to blame for this oversight more so than KoA, and I tried to get the issue resolved through them, but their customer service representative was rude, unhelpful, and seemed irritated about being called out on an issue that was 100% Albion’s fault. In the end, I returned it for a refund; it wasn’t worth spending another $60 to have it shipped back to Albion for servicing. So, all in all, it’s a pretty sword, but be careful when buying anything made by Albion; their quality assurance leaves a lot to be desired, and they aren’t too crazy about helping to resolve their own issues.