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.
Brian –
Well worth it It’s not a razor but it is a comfortable and affordable functional tool for camping. I’ve put mine through its paces and it holds up well. Put your own edge on it and have a blast. The plastic handle is a little slippery bare handed. I roughed up mine to get a better grip.
Grom –
Good value for a cheap cutter I don’t use this for any serious practice – just chopping stuff up for fun, and it excels at that purpose. KoA’s sharpening service brought it to me with a nice, clean edge… MUCH better than Cold Steel’s factory edge, which can be atrociously jagged, almost serrated (no exaggeration). Trust me, it’s worth it to pay a little more to get it with a proper edge already on it.
Light, but blade-heavy, but I expected that from a polymer hilted ‘sword’. The blade flexes decently and returns to true. I used the loop to wrap my grip in paracord, which improved it greatly and is very inexpensive.
I like it as much as my CS Gladius machete, though I prefer a single edged blade for cutting tests. Really, it’s all I could ask for in a cheap chopper, so for that, it gets full marks.
Crazy blind Jake –
Not at all back to the price. If you have a little bit of extra cash pick one up and add it to your collection. Not a bad buy by any means.
James L Waibel (verified owner) –
I bought two and use them for practical training. The cutlass at first feels heavy and awkward, but with proper practice it becomes quite easy to do drills and exercises. It cuts with ease and one can apply all applications using this blade.