kult of athena did me dirty...

by patrick
(orange county ca)

I use to be loyal to kult of Athena.. then they sent me a sword with rusty fingerprints, chipped blade that also had a fatty dent on both sides from being in a vise too tight... I contacted them right away and they told me I expect too much and told me how much they know about swords and how lil I know.. in other words insulted me.. they basically told me " f.u. we got your money piss off sucker" the sword looked used like a display model.. nothing like the other windlass cobra steel swords I have that looked amazing.. I have a sword I have had for 2 years that looks newer then the 1 they sent me... same sword same company same cobra line... when checking out theres an option to leave a note.. I made the mistake asking for the nicest 1 of their stock and that's why I ended up with a hunk of junk. Im like 99% sure some 1 immature saw that and decided to send me their worst 1 not their best or even an average.. I thought it coulda been their last 1 in stock, but nope they have plenty more... so only thing I can think of is my nice note when checking out tempted some 1 too much to send me the worst 1 they had... heres a copy of my F.U. letter they sent me.. they offered to refund me knowing on a $55 sword Im not gonna lose my $10 shipping plus what I spend to ship it back so they can just resale this used defective sword to some 1 else... so I'll take the $65 loss and spread the word that kult of Athena isn't like they where 5 years ago or even 2.. they have become shady.... let me say this 1st..

you don't get rusty fingerprints from forging a sword you get it from handling it and not wiping it down after.. you don't get a chipped blade unless you cut something or dropped it and when putting a sword in a vise to grind the edge you have plywood or cloth or something in-between.. you don't just put the blade in the vise and tighten waaaaay tooooo tight metal on metal... my gut tells me it was a chipped display model they them selves tried to regrind it after chipping it in use... denting the blade... so every point he tries to make in the email is bullshat..

I’m very sorry you were not happy with this item. Unfortunately, what you are describing is completely normal for a product like this and really can not be considered as defects. These items are all hand made and are not going to be “perfect”. The types of issues you are describing are exactly what we are talking about here http://www.kultofathena.com/ship.html . To be perfectly honest with you, I feel you may be expecting a bit too much out of this type of product. We did inspect this item for you before shipment, but doing so is not going to force the item into a quality range that the manufacturer can not achieve. The inspection is to weed out clearly defective items, such as cracked or warped blades, bad rusting etc. Simply requesting “the best one available” is not going to guarantee perfection by any means, not when dealing with hand made swords. There is nothing wrong with wanting high quality, but you do need to be realistic with the products you are purchasing, otherwise you will never be happy.



Any marks in the blade with be from the forging. This blade was hand hammered to shape, not cut out of smooth bar stock, this is likely what you are seeing. They do not go into vices for the sharpening. Any minor scuffs in the finish are very easy to correct for. This item is not a mirror polish so minor issues like that are simple to polish, the same as you would if the surface started to oxidize or was scuffed in usage. Again, you are not normally going to get one without a single mark on it, that is somewhat like a white whale, so to speak.



I’m afraid we will not be able to replace this with one that is going to meet with your expectations. Exchanges like that are only for truly defective items, not such minor issues. If you would like to send it back for a refund, you are welcome to do so. However, I would like to give you a bit of advise if I may. Speaking as someone who deals with these items on a daily basis, has for nearly 15 years and has handled literally thousands of swords from almost every manufacturer at every price point, I can tell you that you will be much happier when you learn to appreciate these items for what they are rather than look for what they are not. Minor imperfections like this are part of the nature of hand made goods and are what swords were actually like in history. With our modern society and so many machine made goods we tend to expect everything to be machine perfect, but swords don’t fit into that way of thinking. Expecting that, will just lead to constant disappointment. If you can learn to appreciate them, you will enjoy them much more. I do hope this helps a bit. In any case if you do want to return if for refund, the info to do so is below.