It's been a long, grueling wait, but I finally got my Yeoman yesterday. My first impression was that this is surprisingly a VERY sturdy cutter in close quarters. The pointy tip is kind of deceptive, cause it's definitely got a lot of blade presence despite its shortness, but because the blade starts off so wide, it's not hard to control the tip either. Boxes at least are both sliced and impaled with no effort whatsoever. Swinging it around certainly gives my soft hands a workout, though :p

I think the thing I like best is the cross guard. I discover more subtle features each time I look at it, with all the flares, swells and bevels. It's almost a study in 3-dimensional organic shape :) The oxblood grip was the perfect choice I think. It's such a hard color to photograph, you can never be sure what you're going to get by looking at pictures. In these it looks red or magenta, but it's really dark brick red-brown, exactly as I wanted it. The leather wrap has lips that slightly extend around both the cross guard and pommel. The seam is (paradoxically) seamless, and is hard to spot unless you're looking for it. The pommel has a slight taper towards the end, and little peen nub. My only negative comment is aesthetic: there are a lot more casting pits than on my two other Albions, possibly a result of the large backlog of orders they're dealing with. Still, I'm very happy with this nasty little guy. I'm on Russ Ellis' wait list for a scabbard, so now I just need a buckler to go with it...

I was able to get a few (really bad) shots off before losing the light, so for what they're worth:

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Hi Eric, your Albion Yeoman is a real beauty, personally I like these short little beast swords, my little beast is the
Arms & Armor "Henry V Sword", and like your Yeoman, it's one heck of a thruster and cutter!
Thank you for posting the really nice photographs, I can clearly see why this has been a long hard wait, I'd be very excited too!
I brought 3 of my swords, the Arms & Armor Edward III, Irish Sword and the Albion Vassal and my A & A Three Ring Italian Rapier to the Bristol Faire on the IL / WI border for Craig Johnson of A & A to see what I had done to the hilts, all except for the Edward III which I brought for him to take back to the shop to have something additional done with it. The point I am making is I brought these swords to show how well I had polished the hilts, especially the Irish Sword and the rapier. The Irish sword I dismantled the hilt and starting with a fine file I worked on the tang until I got the black off the steel, then going to a 150 heavy grit, 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1200 grit, resulting in one very polished exposed tang.
As for the rest of the hilt I did not need to use the file nor the 150 grit, I started at 220 and took it all the way up to a 2,000 grit, then put metal polish on it, followed by Renaissance Wax. I did the same process to the rapier, inside and outside of all the rings, although with the rapier on the inside rings because it was so coarse and so forth, I had to start with a small fine file, then to the 150 and on upwards to the 2,000 grit, polish, wax. In addition I keep all my blades and hilts coated with Remmington Gun Oil. Craig declared me "The Polisher of Hilts"! :lol:

With care, if you apply this process to the hilt of your Albion "Yeoman" (which I think is a gorgeous short beast), your going to have one very stunning marauder of a one hander :!:

I love your Yeoman, I think it's a fine classy looking barbaric and thunderous little one hander sword, capable of amazing cuts and thrusts! I too like cutting cardboard boxes, in fact I worked one over today. My A & A Highland Claymore,
German Bastard Sword, Albion Vassal and Berserkr made short work of that rather large heavy duty cardboard box.

Eric, you've got yourself one hummer of a beauty there and may you enjoy many years of pleasure with this delectable morsal of steel :!:

I Like It Lots!

Bob

Hello Eric, you have got yourself a damn fine single hand sword.

As no Yeoman should come alone, I would like to share some pics of mine, sporting a black leather grip:

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I must say those are both very fine swords. I look forward to receiving my first Albion "The Knight". :p Until then I'll just drool over the swords of other proud owners. :lol:

Wow, another stunning sword!

After having been fascinated by knights and predominantly swords ever since i was born.. ok not QUITE that long, but the first Christmas i can recall i got a teddy bear dressed as a knight ;D

I have managed for twentysomeodd years to put off ever getting a sword, and after ordering my first one, all i ever see now is more swords and types that i have loved and dreamed to hold over the years!

i have a feeling this is all going to be very dangerous to my pocketbook ;)

Thanks everyone for your comments! I may have to try out Bob's excellent suggestions for polishing, but right now a certain unfinished thesis is eating up most of my time :wtf: The more I handle this sword the more I like it. Once you learn its 'character,' for want of a better term, the easier it is to control. I only wish I could get the awesome sharp pictures like those Felix posted. How do you do it??? :eek:

Nothing special, just took our cheap Kodak digital camera, used the makro setting for the closeup and the auto for the two overviews. The sun was shining, so enough light was there. I just scaled down from size 2048*1xxx
to 800*600. This looks like sharpening the pictures.

Niiice! I'd have one each of Albions swords if I were a rich man. ;)
Partial to the oxblood grips myself and love the one on my Gallowglass. Congrats on a fine purchase. Have fun playing with that baby.