Albion Yeoman

I knew when I went to the Oregon knife collector's show ( here's some hasty pics) on April 14th that I was probably going to end up spending a lot of money on something. Since I really only went to see Albion's table, I had a horrible sense of inevitability about it. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised when, after hovering about the booth for about three hours annoying Mike Sigman and Harlan Hastings and handling every sword they had, I finally placed an order for the Yeoman Type XIV. I have a longsword- the Crecy- and a single-hander- the Squire- so naturally I felt the need for a shorty 8-) I'd been contemplating it for a couple months, and was about to settle for the cheaper Windlass version (I actually got as far as the checkout page on Kult of Athena's site before stopping myself) when I got to handle the Albion. My resolve crumbled, and before I knew what I was doing, Mike was taking down my order.

After a grueling twenty week wait, it finally arrived. I left work early to try and get home to pick it up before my apartment office closed, and I literally just made it (thanks Gary!). When I opened the ubiquitous Long White Box® my first conscious thought was, "perfect..."

This nasty little Type XIV has a 3" wide blade that tapers to a sturdy point. Unlike the XVI there is no central ridge after the fuller, making it very much still a cut-oriented sword, but tip control is no problem. It's a design typical of a mid-13th century civilian dueling sword, featured in I.33, the oldest surviving swordfighting treatise, and is meant to be used in conjunction with a small steel buckler in close quarters combat. Most of the swords in the Maciejowski Bible (ca. 1250) are of this type.

My first impression was that this is indeed 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.

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 the ones below 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...

Obligatory stats:

Steel: 1075
Weight: 2 pounds, 6.6 oz.
OAL: 34"
BL: 27 3/4"
BW, base: 2 7/8"
PoB: 4"
CoP: ~17 1/8"
Grip Length: 4"
Cross Type: 7/11
Pommel: K (Wheel, small central hub)

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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