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.
Karlos –
First Hauberk Acquisition — Not Disappointed (Large size) Very good construction, quite happy with it — would definitely buy again.
My chest size (while wearing my gambeson from battle-merchant, their ‘Long Gambeson, black cotton with wool filling’, product # ‘ULF-CL-05B’) measured out at 49 1/2″, so I was a little uncertain whether to get this hauberk in Lg or X-Lg, but I didn’t want a loose/floppy fit so I took a risk on the Lg size here. It worked out OK – I am 6’1″, ~235lbs, and this hauberk ended up fitting OK. It *is* a little more difficult to take off w/gambeson, but once it is all on it feels just about right, snug but not too tight. And, compared to a custom-fitted mail hauberk the price was certainly right.
I have no complaints about this one – it is solid, riveting is all good, and it looks very good. I particularly like the long fit, with the split bottom, and it matches well with my gambeson’s sleeve and waist/thigh length.
The default sleeve length is a bit long for me so I used some strong tin snips to clip off about 10 rows/rings-worth of mail off of each sleeve to make it perfect. It does come slathered with some form of nasty-smelling oil, so if you order one of these I highly encourage you to have some cleaning products ready ahead of time so you can clean oil off and protect it w/alternate substances ASAP.
I cleaned mine on a sunny & dry day outside by soaking it in a lidded-5 gallon bucket filled with a 1-gallon jug of mineral spirits for an hour (shaking it up in bucket a lot to insure it ‘washed’ well) and then I hung it on my newly-constructed wooden hauberk stand until the mineral spirits evaporated in the sun.
After it was mostly dry I sprayed the full contents of 2 or 3 cans of brake cleaner up and down it (for some reason, I was warned *not* to use ‘CRC Brakleen’ brand in armour forums) and then waited for it to dry again. Finally, as a protectant layer, I sprayed on some random ‘house brand’ of PTFE/Teflon,about 2 cans worth and then let it dry — after that regimen it is nice and clean, no trace of the original smelly oil, and not a spot of rust. I assume I will want to re-treat it w/PTFE after any long sessions of wearing it when moisture from sweat or rain/humidity has occurred.
Baron Cambell –
best suit of mail ive ever bought after, three other suits came apart pretty quickly(other brands)it was refreshing to have this piece and put it through as much combat abuse as ive put it through and i still only lost a handful of links, this suit is well put together, and pretty light in comparison to other more expensive pieces ive handled, but has so far out preformed and mail ive worn, and it cheaper, i’d recommend this one to anyone looking for something to wear into battle, though adjustments may be needed.
C-Wolf (verified owner) –
A good piece of maille if you’re looking for a pre-made garment to not have to wait for a commision on a custom item, the links seem solid and the fit is okay. The sleeves are a bit baggy but not like your stereotypical “off-the-rack” maille and will probably be fine for something like reenactment. For the price it’s okay, as often happens with Indian made mass produced maille many rivets fell off as soon as I lifted the hauberk out of the packaging, the sleeves have a few places where the links simply hang from the sleeves for seemingly no reason, and the sleeves are unfortunately a bit wider than what you might expect from the photos. Otherwise, it’s pretty good especially for $300.
Campertrash –
Not a single ring fell off when I removed it from the box, however I did run into the issue where I had trouble fitting my head through the opening at the top of the shirt (medium). Unfortunately I’m inexperienced when it comes to owning armor, so I cannot provide a more in depth review, but it seems a high quality product for the price.