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Frank Perkin
Location: Detroit, Michigan Joined: 14 Oct 2004
Posts: 10
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 Posted: Wed 15 Jun, 2005 6:27 pm Post subject: Sharpening an Windlass/MRL Towton |
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Will a sword of this quality hold a sharp edge? I wish to use it for light cutting. Thanx
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G. Scott H.
Location: Arizona, USA Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 410
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| Posted: Wed 15 Jun, 2005 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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Absolutely. My Windlass Medieval Short Sword and Shrewsbury sword are both sharpened. The Short Sword is a monster cutter on soft targets (noodles, rolled mats, watermelons etc.), while the Shrewsbury, though primarily a thrusting sword, handles noodles and melons fairly well. Windlass blades tend to run soft (at least the ones I have), judging by how easy they are to sharpen and how easy they are to scratch when mat cutting. I don't use real tatami mats, but cheap straw beach mats, though I don't know how much difference this makes. The Short Sword is the older of the two, and it seems a bit softer. I believe Windlass now tempers its blades a bit harder. They claim between 45-55 RC, but I would guess that most run closer to the 45-50 mark. Edge retention on the Short Sword has been surprisingly good, while I haven't cut extensively enough with the Shrewsbury to tell about it. I forked over $20 (each) to have both swords professionally sharpened, and the Short Sword is pretty easy to touch up with a butcher's steel. IMHO, it's a lot easier to maintain a blade once it has a proper edge bevel than it is to try to get a proper edge from scratch, so unless you are really good at sharpening, I'd go the pro route the first time around. Windlass swords aren't mind-blowingly fantastic, but for what you pay for them they are fairly solid and surprisingly durable.
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Glen S. Ramsay
Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Posts: 91
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| Posted: Wed 15 Jun, 2005 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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| G. Scott H. wrote: | | ...I forked over $20 (each) to have both swords professionally sharpened... |
Who would one go to to get a sword professionally sharpened, if an actual swordsmith is not locally available? Would a place that normally just sharpens knives do a proper job on a sword? What kind of place did you get yours done? (I've wondered this a few times, every time I consider purchasing a Windlass sword.) Thanks...
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Matthew Kelty
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| Posted: Wed 15 Jun, 2005 11:13 pm Post subject: |
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>Would a place that normally just sharpens knives do a proper job on a sword?
Surpisingly enough, you may try the local Lawnmower sharpening shop (obviously, not the guy just using a bench grinder). The Tormek system (http://www.tormek.com/index_gb.htm) gets used by a lot of shops, and is designed to deliver very consistent and tightly controlled results, and is good for fine to large pieces.
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Glen S. Ramsay
Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Posts: 91
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| Posted: Wed 15 Jun, 2005 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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Hmmmm...
Interesting info. Might have to look into that, although not sure how I'd feel about leaving a precious beautiful sword of mine with a guy used to sharpening beat-up old lawnmower blades... 
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G. Scott H.
Location: Arizona, USA Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 410
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| Posted: Thu 16 Jun, 2005 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Glen S. Ramsay wrote: | | G. Scott H. wrote: | | ...I forked over $20 (each) to have both swords professionally sharpened... |
Who would one go to to get a sword professionally sharpened, if an actual swordsmith is not locally available? Would a place that normally just sharpens knives do a proper job on a sword? What kind of place did you get yours done? (I've wondered this a few times, every time I consider purchasing a Windlass sword.) Thanks... |
I had them sharpened through a local knife shop. Fortunately, the guy has sword sharpening experience. The only thing he doesn't do are Japanese type blades. Both blades' edges came out very clean and even, though I'm not sure exactly what technique is used. 
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Glen S. Ramsay
Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Posts: 91
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| Posted: Thu 16 Jun, 2005 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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Oh, okay. I guess I could check around and see if any knife sharpeners would know what they're doing for a sword. Thanks for the info...
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G. Scott H.
Location: Arizona, USA Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 410
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| Posted: Thu 16 Jun, 2005 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Glen S. Ramsay wrote: | | Oh, okay. I guess I could check around and see if any knife sharpeners would know what they're doing for a sword. Thanks for the info... |
I can tell you're really jazzed about taking your sword to a knife shop for sharpening.  I know it sounds like a horrible idea, but if you can find a knife shop that carries non-wallhanger swords (the particular shop I go to usually has several Chen and or Windlass swords in stock at any given time), you may find that whoever does their sharpening (most shops farm out the work) has some experience with sword blades. If you were talking about having an Atrim or Albion sharpened (I guess you could say RE-sharpened, as they come sharp), I'd suggest sending them back to the manufacturer for such work. Since we're talking about Windlass swords in this case, I think you'll find the "knife shop" edge pretty adequate.
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Glen S. Ramsay
Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Posts: 91
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| Posted: Fri 17 Jun, 2005 1:36 am Post subject: |
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LOL! I guess my overwhelming tone of jubilance at the idea of a knife shop sharpening my sword didn't really show through in my previous post! 
Thanks for the reassurance, though. There is actually a chain of knife stores that sell swords here, and they do have a sharpening service for their knives, but I just assumed not for swords. I will have to check with them.
Thanks again...
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