Hello Everyone,
It's been quite a while since my last post here and a lot has happened in the meanwhile. I'm by now proud owner of an Albion "Solingen". While this might not sound so exciting for some of you for me it is, since this is the first real sword I own. And to keep it short, it's quite a good start I think. I own it for a month now and I'm beyond the first onset of irrational enthusiasm but still, ...WOW!! :)
In my opinion this weapon doesn't have that brutal presence as maybe the Ritter, the Tritonia or even the Sovereign. I find it's lines very elegant, almost fragile and very noble. In my opinion not a weapon of war at first hand but more for graceful fencing. But that's just my impression. I simply love this piece for exactly these qualities.
And of Albion I can only speak the very best. They really more than met their very high reputation. Everything went perfectly uneventful during the purchase :) I mean that as a compliment. I can only repeat what has been stated so many times on this site. The quality of this sword, the custumer service at Albion, short, the whole product was really a pleasure for me since placing my order. I want to assure everyone who is currently considering to buy from Albion, that you don't have to worry. As long as have the funds and you are willing to spend them, go for it. You will enjoy it. A very big "thank you" and kundos to Mr. Sigman and the whole crew at Albion, everyone involved in creating this sword. Please keep this up!!!
And I also want to thank everone of you contributing to this site. I think this a really great and very valuable site for me. And to everone carrying together all this knowledge, or simply posting his questions, thoughts or whatever, this is a very great thing. Keep it up too!!!
So, enough of me, enjoy some pictures of my "sweetheart" :)

Best regards to you all and good bye

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Congratulations on a beautiful sword! Easily my favorite of the Museum line and one of my favorite Albions overall. Enjoy!

My congrats as well. That is a beautiful blade and possibly one I'd like to have in the future. Hope you continue to enjoy!

Looks fantastic! It's funny, I was never really interested in the Solingen until now, it looks amazing! (great photos by the way!)

Congrats!
-Michael

I've held the Solingen before, and I said then what I'll say now.

It's looks are NOTHING compared to the way it feels in the hand. An amazing sword to be sure.

Hello everybody!

Well, I'm very pleased to hear that you share my sympathy for this sword. It indeed handles very agile and in the hands of a skilled swordsman it would be quite fast and lethal.
Let me ask one question please. As long as I have my Solingen I always cleaned and preserved it with a MoS 2 Spray. That's something very simmilar to WD40 if you know that. I had no problems with that and I'm satisfied with the outcome. But lately I read a comment of a german swordmaker who stated that swords should exclusively be treated with natural chamomile oil or similar herbal oils. Oils or lubricants like WD40 or MoS2 would harm the blade. He didn't spezify in which way that would be. Now, aren't modern lubricants like those stated here made specifically to preserve metall surfaces? Does anyone of you have some longtime experience with what works on this field and what doesn't? I would be very happy to hear your opinion on this.
I'm also planing to build a wall mount as well as a scabbard for my Solingen and of course I will keep you up to date about the outcomes of these projects with pictures and everything. I hope my scabbard becomes nearly as beautiful as Gregs of which I'm really deeply impressed. :)
So far my best regards and thanks for your replies.
Florian

Hi Florian!:-)

CONGRATULATIONS!:-)

What can I say? You have *exceptionally good taste* - I am presently going through the very PAINFUL process of waiting for MY SOLINGEN (my first sword from Albion Swords) to arrive - but based on everything I have read and seen so far online I *know* I won't be disappointed...:-)

I just recently posted my first thread here - and it was all about whether I should go for the Solingen or the Saint Maurice - it ended up deciding me on buying the Solingen FIRST - and then (later on) probably still buying the Saint Maurice as well (which simply looks like the most impressive of knightly swords...)

ANYWAY - great pics - nice to see that the sword you received looks every bit as perfect/beautiful as the pictures on the Albion Swords website - thats a really good sign to I think...

Now - all I have to do is try not to go NUTS waiting for my beautiful new toy to arrive:-)

BTW - you are in the SWORD CAPITAL of the world you know:-) The Mediaeval weapons collection in Graz (I have been told by a friend of mine who lived there as a child) is meant to be absolutely awesome and the best in Europe - you're a lucky man:-)

John.

Florian, your Solingen is downright beautiful! As a proud owner of an Albion Berserkr and Vassal, I know exactly the high quality marks of which you speak. If this is your first serious sword, you have certainly started off with a very serious initiation!
Actually, there is nothing fragile looking about that sword to me! :lol: Looks quite deadly!

Bob

Hi Florian,

Definitely *don't* start stressing out that you have to some sort of Japanese type cleaning/oiling regime...

Before I recovered from being a fanatical nihontophile I used to have to follow this type of routine every few weeks with every sword - each sword had to be stored separately from its mounts - in a special wooden scabbard called a shirasaya - when the time for the fortnightly 'maintenance' came up, out came the tissue paper, the choji oil, the uchiko ball and so on:-)

I had no choice - the price to have one of my katanas or wakizashis repolished in Japan would have been in the order of $US 1000 to US$ 2000 (or even more!) - and it wouldn't take a lot of damage from surface rust/etc. to necessitate a new polish (there is no such thing as a 'touch up polish' with these things...)

There are REASONS for all of the above though - I had 400 and 500 year old traditionally made jap swords that were made from tamahagene (traditional 'sand iron') and that were traditionally folded (laminated) to create the pattern known as 'hada' and were differentially heat treated at the edge (known as the 'hamon') - a very special kind of polish is done to bring out/highlight the differences or 'activities' in the metal and THIS is why so much care/attention is required with a jap sword...

NOW - with a WESTERN sword none of this is necessary:-) Good high quality mono-steel doesn't need ANY of this carry on - it simply needs a GOOD oil/lubricant to protect it...

Over 25 years of collecting I found that vaseline worked wonders on blades and lanoline did really well to keep the life/moisture in fishskin grips/handles...

I also think that any good/high quality machine or gun oil and a soft cloth is probably the best way to go with a sword you are going to be handling/using all the time - the main thing is that you avoid the oils/grease from your own fingers/hands (or your friends!) from getting onto the blade or any of the metal mounts without later on polishing the stuff off and coating with a fine layer of oil...

In terms of a blade you want to simply put on DISPLAY and *leave there* ? You can't go past Renaissance Wax - good enough for the British Museum and good enough for me:-)

Okay - I've waffled on enough there I think:-)

John.

Yes I too am one who favors gun oil. For me I use Remmington gun oil on my swords. WD 40 works nice as a cleaning oil, but for that final coat I like that Remmington Gun Oil. Which reminds me, I need to go over to that famous discount store and stock up again.

Bob

Have to agree with you there Bob:-)

Its amazing how often the SIMPLEST solution is also the best:-)

About the ONLY thing I *don't* do with my gun oil is to oil my guns - because that would require me to CLEAN them first and I am probably the *laziest* person in the world when it comes to maintaining my firearms:-(

Oh well - I've got a MONTH off around Christmas so it might just be time to spend time on ALL my weapons (I've been getting the guilts long enough:-)

John.