Hello
I`am looking into ordering a bare blade from them. Are thier sharps(sharp) or afterthought sharp?Do they have any
distal taper?I`ve droped them a line but they havent got back to me yet.Any thoughts would be appreciated :-)

BKS has a bewildering number of different blades and styles. I recommend tightening up your question and asking it again.

Of the few BKS swords I've handled, they are pretty heavy, but not clunky. They primarily make stage combat weapons, un-edged and built like tanks. They will build you anything you want, but you better have deep pockets and not expect an Albion or A+A. They are also known for slow responses to emails, etc. Their steel is fantastic...rings like a bell, and will chop through a Buick. Good luck!.............McM

Even their rebated swords have distal taper. I have nothing to complain about on mine.

I have one of their rebated bastard swords. the balance point as set up is about 2" from the cross, which makes the thing incredibly responsive for countercuts in the bind.

They really are bulletproof; imagine everything DSA and coldsteel say about their weapons, only 100% true.

While they primarily produce stage combat weapons, they have and will make true sharps with fully ground blades and good distal taper. Just tell them what you want and they should be able to do it. Their finish is not quite up to Albion or A&A, IMO, but they are less expensive as well, or at least they were last time I ordered from them.

The only real problem I've had with their offerings is that they tend to use overly heavy hilt furniture to bring the PoB closer to the guard. My own sharp from them had a PoB 2" from the guard. I've since replaced the guard and pommel and with a PoB now at 4" the sword weighs well under 3lbs with a 35" blade and 45" overall.

Hope that helps,
Alan

Hello,
Hopefully its not to late....
Id really recommend not buying anything from them.


Worst experience in the ten years I've been collecting swords.


And after all the issues I had with them the sharp blade they made me bend the first time I cut with it.

I own a couple BKS swords and have handled several others. Their swords are excellent weapons, generally fantasy slanted though they have some really nice looking historically inspired works as well. They make a lot of really gorgeous and creative artwork pieces and I would rate their overall quality as excellent, brought down from extraordinary by occasionally imperfect finishing touches. The blades I own have only a little distal taper however they were built to be steel on steel capable and for that class of sword, they are quite wieldy.

I highly recommend buying their weapons, but I must recommend buying something already made. They are notoriously unreliable when it comes to deadlines and communication. I have sent them emails on three occasions with questions and have never had one returned. SBG has several threads about delivery problems as well. My sense, and it could be incorrect today, is that they will prioritize large scale orders or high cost orders at the expense of less lucrative obligations. If your blade is premade and you can get them to contact you I'd not hesitate to buy a bare blade from them. If it's not done, and you have flexibility on delivery, I'd still be comfortable. I think they are stable for the long haul these days.

I had BKS make a godenak for me with a sharp blade, and I got it within a couple of weeks. It was fast.

With BKS if it breaks they will warranty it. It is part of what you pay for the price and I believe it is for life as one of the gents in my group has had the same BKS swords for ten years and they finally broke. I think they replaced one of them already free of charge. I cannot stand their grip wraps, it is hideous the simple black leather over the tang with no wood core. Other than that and the machine looking finish, they are good swords and last. I do sometimes think they make their pommels too big and I have Fabri stage swords which exhibit fair distal taper. So it can be done. Worth the money? Sure, especially for the life time warranty. I prefer Czech made stage swords from www.outfit4events.com or Fabri myself.

I personally love their blades. As many have said they are primarily made for stage combat, but they can make you just about anything and sharpen it as well. Their service and warranty are top notch, they work with you and their warranty really is, if it breaks under normal stage combat use (edge on edge, cutting, heavy use, etc) the will repair or replace it, period. Explain what happened, send it in, get a new one. Their Grips are definitely rugged, not too pretty, but I've got one friend who in a decade of use has never had to replace or rewrap the grip. So, built like Starfires and dsa, but certainly prettier and more accurate than Starfire's blades. Their range of bare blade is pretty big and if you don't see something on their site, they'll do a custom to match what you want.

Harry, I was actually just discussing with someone how we'd both like one of their Godenaks if we could ever find a reason to use it in a fight on stage. Theirs is great.

I have 2 and a 3rd on the way from them, they do amazing work especially for the price, the best way to contact them and get quick replies is on FB and they will create anything you can imagine.