Hi Folks,

I have always been a fan of Albions. I have been looking very closely and narrowed my choice down to the Albion Poiters or to the next generation Squire.

I have read the myArmoury reviews but was hoping to hear from any other owners, or people who have handled and compared both the blades. Both seem good and cut and thrust and 1 33.

Thanks

Paul

Tough choice, though.
But I think I should recommend you the Albion Squire, Paul. ;)

I owned a Squire for a short period, but not a Poitiers.

I really liked the Squire, i thought it was well balanced, and not too heavy. Still, it had a lot of authority.

Considering the dimensions and the blade geometry, my guess is that the Squire and the Poitiers handles very differently. The Squire is probably a better cutter than the Poitiers, because the blade geometry of the Poitiers is diamond shaped from the guard to the tip, while the Squire have a flatter blade i think.

From first hand experience with the two, the squire/prince blade is the better cutting blade. It is actually a very nice cutter.

the difference between them is that of a XV vs. a XVI.

The XV Poitier is mainly a thruster that can cut a little bit

The XVI Squire is perhaps the first Medieval design made to both cut and thrust equally well.

the blade geometries are a bit different - XV = flattened diamond with a lot of profile taper
XVI = starts out with a flatter (hexagonal?) blade with a fuller that transforms partway down into a flattened diamond cross section.

My choice would be to go with the Squire. If I wanted an Albion XV, I would go with the (admittedly more expensive) Lancaster, which, to me, has a more attractive look than the Poitier.