[Brandt Giese]

My Baron just started getting a clicking noise in the grip. I have a Reeve that was shipped with the noise. So far my Knight is noise free and I hope it stays that way since the noise is irritating. Albion will fix the swords but i need to send them back which I may not want to do. Anyone else have this issue and if so did it develop into a bigger issue?

[Mike Capanelli]

[Sean Flynt]

You might not want to do this with your Albion, but I once fixed a click by lifting the leather of the grip in the area of the noise, drilling through to the tang with a small bit and using a syringe to slowly inject wood glue into the space between tang and grip core. The glue fills the drilled hole and also secures the replaced leather.

[Thomas R.]

My Liechtenauer makes this sound since day one. I did nothing about it and its handle does hold together finely for some years now. It's only annoying if you concentrate on it.

[JE Sarge]

I had two seperate Mercenaries that had a tinking noise, noticable when snapping the sword from the wrist. It seemed to be coming from the guard on mine - not really under the handle. I just ignored it, never got any worse, and never caused a problem.

I attributed it the wood drying out over time and perhaps leaving an uneveness between the top of the grip and the guard. At least that is my best guess. In regripping some Albions, that's the only area where I have seen a small space develop.

It's kinda like my Harley, it makes odd, unidentifiable noises from time to time - yet always runs like a top. But, if it ain't broke - don't fix it.

[Dan Dickinson]

The tinking noise from the guard might be caused by the shoulders/ tang radius not mating with the guard recess as well as normal. However, creaking noises in the grip are probably caused by areas where air pockets caused the epoxy not to bond with the tang. My Yeoman has the same problem. The increase in reported cases of this seems to coincide roughly with when they switched to laminated grip cores (I had never heard of such a problem until a couple years ago, and have since heard several in addition to yourselves). As others have mentioned, if it really bothers you, send it to Albion. They are great about honoring their guarantee. However, another option is to use the method that a friend used on his creaking Norman. He poured red loctite down the area where the fuller enters the guard. Once it dried, there was no more creak. He's used it much more roughly than most of us would dare with an albion, cutting plywood etc, with no sign of a creak. If using the loctite, I might use a straw to help guide it into the right area.
I hope this helps,
Dan

[Brandt Giese]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I will try to live with the noise for now as I can always send them in for repair. I find it curious that Albion has not tried to remedy the problem as it appears to be a common issue.

[Audun Refsahl]

I've fixed a few loose guards and grips by jamming a piece of waxed string in between them and giving it a few turns inside the crack really tight. it sort of works as a wedge, and is invicible. might not fix your problem, but might be helpfull to others...

[Lancelot Chan]

Some of my Tinker swords have such problems too. For the ones that can be disassembled, I took down the grip and wrap the tang with tape to produce a tighter fit.

For the sword that cannot be disassembled, I took the advice Dan Dickinson provided and purchased Loctite 290 penetration to do the work. Since the sword does not have a fuller extending into the guard, I chose this product for its high penetration ability. I poured the glue down the gap between the blade and the guard and it fixed the problems after 3 to 4 hours of curing.

Thanks Dan!

[William Swiger]

My Mercenary made this sound as well. Did not have any problems with the sword. Had the same problem with an A&A Durer but used crazy glue down the guard into the grip. No more problems.

[Mike Harris]

I've used red loctite to correct this problem on two Albion swords to date. Simply prop the sword in a corner with the tip upward and drip red loctite into the fuller at the junction with the guard. I used 3-5 drops at a time and allowed it to sit for a day or two before adding a few more drops. When one side would take no more loctite, I flipped the sword around and repeated the process on the opposite side.

Those swords have seen significant usage since, with no clicking or loosening of any fittings. This technique has worked well with Valiant Armoury and ATrim swords as well. Red loctite seems to do a very good job filling all the inevitable voids and loose areas in grip, especially those that develop over time as the wood dries and contracts to some degree. It's the best and easiest technique I've found to date. But it can only be used well with fullered models, since the fuller acts as a channel to transport the loctite down into the grip.

[William Swiger]

My Albion Gotland also has this problem and sometimes my Ritter makes the sound. Everything is tight on the assembly of both swords and I try to ignore it.

[Jeremy V. Krause]

Out of the 6 Albions I own- My Norman does this- or used to- I haven't handled it in a while. It come from the grip and must have something to do with the wood and epoxy.

[J. Hargis]

Of course this can happen with any maker's products from time to time, but seeing the number of Albions being reported with this problem in this one thread suggests that Albion may have a systemic problem on their hands.

Brandt Giese stated:

[Lancelot Chan]

After doing this to several of the swords I've come to fix, I can confirm that the Loctite 290 solution works very well! Weather differences can lead to such problems but it's easy to fix.

[Patrick Kelly]

My new Maximilian exhibits this, as have a couple of other Albions I've owned over the years. This has never led to the grip loosening or any other issue. In short, it's a trait not a problem. It doesn't effect performance or structural integrity so Albion doesn't need to waste time addressing a nonexistent issue.

[Julien M]

Hum, I would tend to think that at that price range Albions should be free of any such things. I find it very awkward since guard and pommel are cast to fit blade shoulders and tang, are punched onto the tang, then the sandwitch grip is epoxied on it...which is a very sturdy construction method and I fail to see were this noise can come from, as everything should be as tight as it can be.

On a side note on the subject of unwanted noises, I had an issue with a much lesser range sword, a gen 2 Henry V. Like the original it has a hollow disc pommel, made of two welded halves. A piece of weld inside got loose and the sword was ringing whenever I shook it around. No consequences on the handling nor compromising the assembly, but (beside nicknaming the sword glamdring...), it pissed me off to the point that I dismanteled the sword altogether to get rid of it. Now it's been without a pommel for half a year...

[J. Hargis]

[Sean Flynt]

I won't speculate about the clicking, but this seems like a good place to report my experience with a first-version Squire Line 13th Century Great Sword I recently acquired. (original review here: http://www.myArmoury.com/review_alb_13th.html) Not many of us get to look under the hood of an Albion sword, so maybe this will be of interest.

The sword I got was beaten to hell and priced accordingly. My first thought when I saw it was, "I didn't know Albion made saws". That's not meant as a dig against Albion. This thing had been used as a training weapon and had seen LOTS of edged-to-edge blocks, intentional or otherwise. But I checked this thing very carefully before I started to work on it, and was amazed at how solid it was after this kind of use. No movement, looseness or noise anywhere. Apart from the many nicks and scratches, the only damage was the missing grip wrap and a splinter out of the core, exposing a small section of tang.

Thinking I would restore the piece in-situ, I re-ground the profile for a loss of perhaps 3/16" on each edge. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to re-build this as one of the late 15th c. Type XIII swords. So, I decided to tear it down.

I once re-gripped an A&A sword and had to work hard to get the grip off, finally having to destroy it with hammer and chisel. I assumed that would be true with the Albion, but a couple of light taps with a chisel on one side of the grip popped it off in two neat halves. It's so neat that I could re-mount it if I wanted to do that. There was evidence of a thin layer of epoxy on the upper part of the tang and coating the inside of the core halves.

The cross remained in place and perfectly tight without any support from the grip core. After installing the cross, the Albion craftsman used a sharp punch in four places on the top of the cross to tighten it against the tang. Mission accomplished. I had to hammer the cross free from below.

The pommel. Ahhh, the pommel. This thing gave me fits. Even without the grip core in place, the flush-peened pommel was immovable. It did not drop, turn, flip or fly. I hammered hard on it from below to see if I could lift the edges of the peen enough to work on it. Nothing. I hammered hard from above to see if I could expose the peen. Nothing. I ground down the top of the pommel in the hope that the peen would be shallow enough that I could get it free without destroying the pommel. No luck. I finally had to use a metal bit and drill down into tang and pommel to eliminate the peen, then hammer hard from below to finally get the pommel off. The peen was of square section and as tight a fit as is physically possible and it rested on a sloping shoulder of the tang. That pommel was never going to turn or drop.

Many of you already know all of this, especially since Albion has publicly documented their process. I knew it, too, but there's a difference between knowing and doing, and I've come out of this experience with new respect for the folks/processes at Albion. Take from this what you may.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with this stuff--especially that early pommel--but I can at least say I've owned an Albion.

[Mike Harris]

Just to add a little input to this thread...

I recently acquired JD Crawford's Albion Templar. Upon arrival I noticed this clicking noise along with an ever-so-slight movement in the grip. It wasn't this way when it left JD, so I attributed this to the radical change in climate from JD's locale to mine, owing this phenomenon to drasticly lower humidity here. I tried the Loctite solution, but to no avail. I stripped off the loctite and thoroughly oiled the sword with 3-in-1 oil and placed it in a tip-up position for a day. The clicking and any movement in the grip completely disappeared once the oil had soaked into the hilt.

Food for thought...