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.
Matt H. –
It’s a heavy duty two hander Darksword’s interpretation of the 15th century original presents us with a nearly 50 inch blade, that has a thick spine and a diamond cross section( in comparison the original appears to have a hollow ground cross section ), with very little distal taper. This makes the sword a very ‘blade heavy’ weapon, and it can strike with considerable force, and ( with the sharpening service ) the blade sports a pretty cruel edge to boot. The leather and fittings are pretty good, very little space, and the hilt shape is actually quite ideal, as it is also kind of diamond cross sectioned with beveled edges, and makes edge alignment easy. The pommel can be a little uncomfortable to grasp if you like to place the left on hand upon the abosolute bottom.
If you’re looking to practice fanciful longsword drills, I don’t think this would be the sword for you. However, if you’re looking for a sword that would outright slaughter whatever gets caught in the arc of it’s swing, then it might be a good choice.
TL;DR It’s the Cold Steel hand and a half sword but a lot meaner and better put together.
9/10 would buy it again.
Syn –
So, let’s start with the cons… And we’re done.
This thing is a beast, it is fun to cut with and simply scary for how hard it hits with little effort. It’s light, well balanced, and just a ton of fun to swing. I don’t have a proper stand and have been using a folding table as a cutting stand. This table has a metal frame, obviously not a good thing for a blade to hit, but my stupidity highlights the durability of this blade. All the people I have cut with, and myself have hit the table at some point, and therefore the metal frame, several times each. I actually swung far too hard once, hit the table hard and bent the metal frame significantly. No chips, no rolls, barely even dulled the edge. I have only seen a slight chip in the blade once, and it took about 30 seconds to fix that.
It’s durable, fun to swing, cuts great, holds an edge well, and is relatively easy to sharpen. Highly recommend.
alientude –
One of the worst swords I’ve ever used, and comparing the sword I have with other reports on this model show why – it’s a completely different sword. Mine weighs in at 2 lbs 12 oz, and is extremely light, but entirely too flexible. In addition, the sharpening on it is atrocious (blame DSA here, not Kult of Athena, as it was DSA who sharpened it).
The hilt is visibly full of epoxy, but the crossguard has come loose, and the peen is suspect – it only slightly overlaps the slot in the pommel, with visible voids (filled with epoxy) around it. I have no confidence the hilt is solidly constructed.
Unfortunately, this kind of wild variance seems to be all too common with Darksword Armory. Sometimes you might get a good sword. Sometimes you get a complete dud.
I did an overly long and exhaustive review on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ypa_o2mGkeU