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.
Seth Walton (verified owner) –
First things first, right out of the box you’ll notice that the crossguard isn’t aligned perfectly. No big deal. Next thing is that if you have big hands, like me (I’m a 6’2, 250 lbs American), the hilt will feel a little small. That’s all the complaints I have.
The dagger’s blade is a foot long and overall it’s about 18 inches. But it’s balanced perfectly. Definitely meant for thrusting but there’s enough weight that it can cut pretty well (props to KoA’s sharpening department, it’s worth the price).
Also keep in mind that the sheath is old school without any point to attach it directly to your belt – you’ll need a frog for it.
Gabriel Miller (verified owner) –
You get what you pay for. It definitely does not look as clean as in the pictures (which does give it a rather rugged look which some people may like), and there is actually a piece of eva foam glued to the inside of the sheath to get the blade to fit more snugly. I also notice that it can rub a little ogainst the inside of the sheath, near to the point, but so far as I can tell it is just the flat of the blade, so that shouldn’t be an issue. The blade is very thick compared with my other knives, which I suppose makes sense for a dagger, and there is no distal taper. My only real complaint is that there are some sharp edges on both sides of the guard, right where your hand is going to hit if you thrust against something solid, so I’ll need to take a file to those. Overall I am quite pleased with it.