myArmoury.com - Small Review with photos: Albion Thegn

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Posts: 434 Location: Indianapolis, IN

Tue 08 Apr, 2008 4:59 am

Darrin Hughes wrote:

Good timing with the review Mike. My Thegn has been with Tod having a scabbard made and I should be picking it up later today. I'll be looking to post a few pics in the next couple of days if all goes to plan.
I can't see anything to argue with in your review, except possibly the blade length I'm sure mine isn't that long, I'll have to check when I get it back.

I bought my Thegn a couple of years back now and it was my first Albion. Whilst there will always be a certain amount of reluctance when asked to part with the sort of money that Albion charge, it was the quality of this sword that persuaded me to buy other Next Gen. swords. I now have 5, although I'm not planning on adding to that number any time soon. I'm afraid that I'm not made of money, I just went a bit mad :)
The Thegn is possibly still my favourite as far as handling is concerned, very light and quick. I would also agree about the visual appeal of the blade, the proportions seem just right, as is the case with so many of Peter Johnssons swords.

Cheers,
Darrin.

Thanks Darrin. I measured the blade a third time after you wrote that, and again, I am getting it right at 29 inches, maybe 28 and 9/10 inches at best. , whish is not a huge difference than the Albion stats.

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Thom R.

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Posts: 630 Location: Tucson

Tue 08 Apr, 2008 10:00 am

I agree that this is a great sword, afterall, I have bought two of them in the past year :D

To me, this is the perfect shield wall sword. Easy to control, can slash, hack and even thrust, and recovers fast. If I was in a wall and wasn't using a spear or axe, this is the sword I would want. The pommel does not interfere in any way with my hand, whether in handshake or hammer grip or something in-between. It is easy to get up to speed and although it has a thin edge, there is enough cross section behind the edge to finish a cut. There is something in the tapers on this sword that makes for a nice balance. I never tire of swinging this sword and have cut light targets with mine often. At first I thought I would not like the centrally positioned riser but I have come to really like it.

Photobucket image

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Paul Watson

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Posts: 395 Location: Upper Hutt, New Zealand

Tue 08 Apr, 2008 11:22 am

Paul B. wrote:

I think pretty much all the Albion swords are a ripoff. They make beautiful art objects, but their weapons are far too flimsy to be considered real swords. 4 mm thick at the guard? Ridiculous. If it was 5160 spring or even D2 that would be acceptable, maybe. But Albion makes their swords out of 1095 and they anneal it. I love to look at their swords, I'm sure they feel good in the hand, but they are wall-hangers. Classier than MRL, but still wall-hangers. Can you put it on blocks and stand on it, and then have it return to true? How does it cut? Will it split bricks? Can you bang it edge-to-edge with another sword without folding the edge? Of course you can't, the steel is too soft. I just feel bad for people who spend so much money on overpriced pseudo-weapons. If he's happy - and he sounds happy to me - then good for him, but I think Albion are overhyped and severely overpriced.

Peter Johnsson documents swords in museums and then uses this information to design the Albion products. So the statement you make about the thickness at the guard is incorrect. If that is what is evident on historical swords then that is what PJ has designed for Albion.

I work in the building industry and have yet to see anyone try to split bricks with a sword.

Cutting tests on modern mediums that do not reflect what the sword was historically expected to face should be more about a study in form of the user than what the sword is capable of.

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Jonathan Eells

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Posts: 79

Tue 08 Apr, 2008 9:34 pm

Well chosen, Mike!

I love my Thegn, and I am glad to hear your impressions of it are similar. Your take on blade presence is spot on. What a great blade you have now! Time to go raiding...

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Darrin Hughes

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Posts: 228 Location: England

Wed 09 Apr, 2008 4:04 am

Hello again Mike.

I've got the Thegn back from Tod and measured the blade, and it comes in at 28 7/8 inches :) It just goes to show what you mentioned in your review about 'a Viking word in miniature' I suppose. I've had this for a couple of years now and even I thought it was smaller than it really is. It is by far the best handling Viking age or early Medieval sword I've held, and is definitely a sword that you need to get in your hand to really appreciate, as I'm sure the other owners here would agree.

Cheers,
Darrin.

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Mike Arledge

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Posts: 434 Location: Indianapolis, IN

Wed 09 Apr, 2008 4:13 am

Re: Well chosen, Mike!

Jonathan Eells wrote:

I love my Thegn, and I am glad to hear your impressions of it are similar. Your take on blade presence is spot on. What a great blade you have now! Time to go raiding...

Gather your sword and shield me boy, its time to go a viking. Hurrah, hurrah.
Time to bend the longship oar me boy, its time to go a viking. Hurrah, hurrah
Pray to Odin, pray to Thor, we may not make it home.
Kiss your lass, promise her gold me boy.

Its time to go a viking. :)

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Clayton Woods

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Posts: 14 Location: Verona, WI

Fri 11 Apr, 2008 7:21 am

First off to Mike:

I'm very glad that you're enjoying your Thegn, Mike. We try our hardest to please everyone and we all expect our customers to be as tough and critical of swords as would be appropriate given the price point. We like you to be picky and then be pleased!

:D

As for this statement:

Paul B. wrote:

But Albion makes their swords out of 1095 and they anneal it.

We do not use 1095 and we do not anneal it. :wtf:

-----
Clayton R. Woods
Albion Blade Shop

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Peter Törlind

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Posts: 23

Fri 11 Apr, 2008 4:02 pm

Annealing

I have several Albion swords and also swords from several other makers, and for me Albion makes ery nice swords, and with Peters help they are very well designed.

But a question, no annealing? When I work in the forge I temper the steel AND anneal everything I do, othervise it's to brittle.

Or is this a language confusion (long time sine my Materials class and Swedish is my first language), is it tempering or do you use the word hardening?

First you cool the steel to get martensite - hardening/tempering?
Then you heat it up again to make it a bit softer and les brittle - annealing or tempering?

Can an english speaker please explain, I am a bit confused;-)

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Jared Smith

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Posts: 1,532 Location: Tennessee

Fri 11 Apr, 2008 5:18 pm

Re: Annealing

Peter Törlind wrote:

When I work in the forge I temper the steel AND anneal everything I do, othervise it's to brittle.

Or is this a language confusion (long time sine my Materials class and Swedish is my first language), is it tempering or do you use the word hardening?

First you cool the steel to get martensite - hardening/tempering?
Then you heat it up again to make it a bit softer and les brittle - annealing or tempering?

Can an english speaker please explain, I am a bit confused;-)

I do not represent Albion, or have direct tour experience in their facility. I will try to elaborate based upon assumptions.

Albion CNC (computer controlled milling machine) shapes their sword blanks from material which normally is sold as flat bar stock that is already annealed (soft.) It is very hard to find knife grade material sold which is not in the soft condition as most people do cut and grind the desired shape, then heat and harden it. The process of hardening (heating, quenching in a comparatively cool fluid, then reheating) is generically called heat treating. After the first heat, then the cool, it is reheated to achieve a spring temper with Rockwell C scale hardness in the 45 to 55 range (called tempering in most English language contexts.)

The Albion swords are not intended to be tank armour busting crow bars, but rather weapons consistent with historical sword proportions, historical temper, and probably much better than historical alloy composition/ durability qualities. As such, you can roll the edges if you try to cut down mountains of solid rock with one. However, this compromise is the only way to achieve a reproduction with appropriate (same as historical museum specimens, measured very carefully by Peter) handling characteristics.

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Clayton Woods

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Posts: 14 Location: Verona, WI

Fri 11 Apr, 2008 7:08 pm

Re: Annealing

Jared Smith wrote:

More or less correct :)

Tempering is the word we would use to describe reheating the blade slightly to achieve a less brittle but still strong blade.

Annealing is extreme heating of the blade, thus taking the steel back to full soft.

:)

(these are the terms we use in the shop, your mileage may vary)

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