This is my first post so I would first off like to say hello to everyone on the forums. :D

My question is concerning Albion's NextGen line of swords and A&A's line.
What is the differences between the two? Everything I have read says the NextGen line swords are suppose to be custom level swords on the production scale. Is their some sort of quality difference between the two or is it just the way they're made?

thanks

Ryan

Hello Ryan,

And welcome to myArmoury.com!

This is just my thoughts on the matter. I don't think you can really compare the two. (except for a few models which you could compare handling characteristics, etc) Arms & Armor & Albion's line of swords are quite unique & different from from one another. A&A puts a lot of detail (and high quality) into their pieces, not to mention that they do complex hilts also. Albion also produces high quality swords and their new line of NextGens are highly desirable for their many different blade (Oakeshott Typology) and hilt offerings that are much desired by many and have not been available before.

just my 2 cents. ;)

A&A swords are copies of specific historical swords. The Albion next gen swords are based on historical sword designs but are not copies of specific swords. I haven't yet handled the next gen swords but based on what I know of Albion and the pics on their site, I'd say they are on a similar quality level as A&A. I own an A&A sword and have handled/cut with several others and can say with no reservation that their quality is top notch. As far as construction goes, A&A uses threaded pommel nuts for most of their swords while Albion next gens' pommels are peened on

It seems like peening seems to really all that differs other than the classification of blade and pommel types.

thanks for the replies

I have yet to see an Albion Mark first hand so I can't comment on them. That will be fixed, hopefully by June.

Currently I own two pieces by A&A. One a customized GBS. The other a yet to unveiled full custom that I'm giving myself time to grow familiar with before going post crazy over.

A&A can do some very amazing things at pretty darn impressive price points and as far as I know don't use a CNC machine (if that matters). I don't love the peened bolt but its not noticible unless you look for it. Quality and finish are consistantly high and have gotten better since I bought my first A&A piece (a Bohemian I no longer have) two or three years ago. Wait times are also very reasonable.

Basically if you can tell A&A what you want and it has a historic foundation they can make it work and work well.

Albion is at a point where I think it has great potential and they are certainly causing a great stir.

What's the difference between the two? Hard to tell without owning stuff from both companies. The peening and kinds of tools used may be the about it. Bottom line I don't think you can go wrong with either company.

I'll tell you what the difference is: I can drink more Port than Craig!!! :p :lol:

Sooooo Eric

A duel at just after dinner time, Port at 2 feet across a nice table in a cosy nock of a pub, preferbly by the fire and the first bloke to fall out of his seat loses round one. I suggest a best 787 out of 1573. What say you villian :-)

Did I tell you what my brother got me for my fortieth bday. 40 year old port Newport 1963, a noted vintage. Saddly I am almost 41 and it no longer is with me. But it died as noble a death as any great hero of legend! It was pure nector.

Best my friend
Craig

PS Oh to not totally highjack the thread I make one of them and would be proud to own the other. Its a good day to be a sword buyer.

I don't know for how long A&A has been doing peened pommels, but I own three and have seen several others, and all were peened. I know the smallsword is dismountable, but I think it's a rarity in the lineup, what with having a sport blade fixed to it instead of an A&A made blade.

Maybe if Craig visits again we can get him to solve the contruction mystery.

My A&As are certainly peened and also look like they use a pommel nut which I assume indicates tang threading. I have not tried disassembling either sword, so I am basing this on external observation only which could obviously be decieving.

Regardless they are nice and tight. No rattles...no complaints.

BTW...the new one is growing on me. I've gotten to the point where I try very hard not to get over excited on new arrivals but this one is being very demanding. Wants to be held all the time.

My suggestion is to peruse the review section, there are quite a few reviews of swords by both companies. These will give you a pretty good idea of where both makers are coming from with their approaches. Both will give you a quality product that you can be proud of.

Hmm. That's a nice article on Albion's site. But after reading it, I have to wonder why Albion went with 'compression assembly' in the first place.

I personally cannot say if a cold-peened sword is any worse than a hot-peened sword, although Albion seems to think they are 'below standard' and primarily the reason they came up with the NextGen line. Obviously there are many swords out there, some being Exceptionally Great, that feature cold-peening or even a pommel nut, but I'm still curious as to if cold-peening is really a substandard construction method as Albion makes it out to be. Hmm.

I'm glad Albion is upgrading their FirstGens to the new technology. Last I heard from Mike, they were working on upgrading the Agincourt next. But does this move severely impact the value of the older cold-peened FirstGens?

I wondered about that too Timothy. Maybe someone here can answer that?

The grip can't be already mounted during hot peening, as it will get scorched.

One problem with cold peening, is that the hilt is held tight by downward pressure onto the shoulder. If the grip expands, the pressure may split it; if it contracts, the hilt gets loose. A traditional cold peening ala Del Tin can be fixed, when it gets loose, but it is a relatively laborious process. The nice thing about a pommel nut, (A&A and ATrim) is that that pressure can be restored easily.

One thing I don't understand about the hot peening process -- What is holding the guard tight against the shoulder? Is it a tight, forced mechanical fit, or is it that fit, plus some bonding that might occur between the guard and the tang during the hot peening process? Or something else?