Albion Kern review.
May 3, 2014 17:18:36 GMT
Post by Leader Bee on May 3, 2014 17:18:36 GMT
Firstly, may I say that I've been waiting some time for this sword to arrive from Albion and the purpose of my review is that while I was waiting I had scoured the internet for reviews on this apparently unpopular piece from Albion.
I say unpopular, because while I could find peoples opinions on many of Albions other Next Generation swords, any information on the Kern was strangely absent from any forum I visited and I wanted to put the situation right for any other people who might have an interest in the Kern.
To that end then, I would like to begin with my personal opinion of the sword; I could have gone for any other sword in their lineup but aesthetically the Irish ring pommel and and S shaped guard made the Kern stand out to me - and the fact that I didn't have a single handed sword in my collection yet made me decide to pick up this sword first.
Initially I had ordered the sword through Kult of Athena as this means I could pick it up only slightly cheaper at $1,295 (738.04 British Pound Sterling) or EUR 1,245 through Albion-Europe (1023.74 British Pound Sterling) and at the point of purchase I was hit with my first dilemma - Oxblood Grip? I thought for a while and looked at the pictures of the colours on offer for customisation, I had liked the dark red leather wrap that Oxblood offered but figured that these colours may actually fade and darken more or look completely different in real life than through my display, I eventually decided on what quite honestly looked like it could have been a quite bright and gaudy looking red dye, gulped, and confirmed my purchase.
A month later I began thinking about this again I knew I was finally happy with the choice of grip but re-considered that while purchasing there was no option on KoA's website for fittings (Albions site offers further customisation for blueing, blackening and antiquing the furniture) I asked about this and when KOAs excellent customer service confimred they could facilitate my enquiry I immediately requested the fittings to be blued, after all, this would lower any maintenance on the sword and it'll look even more unique.
After months of waiting (I ordered in October 2013 and finally received the sword in April) my package finally arrived in the UK and after paying an import tax of £187 and £30 for the extra blueing this brought the grand to £955, or thereabouts.
I was expecting to open the parcel to see Albions famous white box, but no, must be something to do with it coming from KoA, no matter it was still securely packaged.
I'm glad I chose the colours and blueing options I did, the gaudy red I had expected was a more subdued but still vibrant shade and while the blueing certainly looks more like blackening to my eyes (perhaps not noticable in the picture but there is a hint of blue in the right light) it compliments the colours perfectly.
I haven't owned an Albion in the past simply down to expense but the fittings are expectedly tight with no rattle, the blade came perfectly sharp with no grind marks or scuffs of any kind and the leather bound handle was tightly wound and had no loose edges.
What I would say is that there is a dark black patch on one side of the grip which I expect is perhaps a product of the blueing procedure or colours somehow running into the leather but this only adds more character to the sword and I can't tell if this is infact intentional or not.
The sword has a distal taper and starting at a short ricasso of about 2 inches is accompanied by a single deep fuller surrounded by some simple etching that extends roughly half the length of the hexagonal, oakshott type XIX blade and terminates with a non spatulate almost chisel like tip.
Albions specifications of the weapon are as follows:
Specifications
Overall length: 40" (101.6 cm)
Blade length: 33.75" (85.73 cm)
Blade width: 1.48" (3.76 cm)
CoG: 7" (17.78 cm)
CoP: 23" (43.82 cm)
Weight: 1 lbs 14.5 oz (0.865 kilos)
I thought I would measure this just to make sure it was infact true
Just over 40" or my tape isn't spot on.
At 1 lb 14.5 Oz this is the lightest sword that Albion offer and I was expecting something that would handle like a dream - what I got however is something that feels much more like a chopper than something with fine point control but I am used to handling longswords and perhaps have been misled by this bias;
My Generation 2/ Legacy Arms Irish hand and a half (Reviewed here by Dan: www.sword-buyers-guide.com/irish-swords.html) feels better balanced even in one hand though certainly not as pretty.
What this means is that when it came down to a milk carton cutting test I rather batted the jug away a couple of times instead of slicing clean through, my technique is already terrible however and on the second attempt, right handed, took a swing from right to left instead of left to right and effortlessly cleaved the evil beast in twain.
I have heard that the type XIX's hexagonal cross section makes not for an easy cut and edge alignment is thusly more important than ever the overall the results I observed I conclude is more down to my own failings in technique than any failure with the blade itself.
Overall I am very pleased with my purchase and while perhaps not worth the total cost Albion charges it is certainly worthy in fit and finish the moniker of a "high end premium sword"
I say unpopular, because while I could find peoples opinions on many of Albions other Next Generation swords, any information on the Kern was strangely absent from any forum I visited and I wanted to put the situation right for any other people who might have an interest in the Kern.
To that end then, I would like to begin with my personal opinion of the sword; I could have gone for any other sword in their lineup but aesthetically the Irish ring pommel and and S shaped guard made the Kern stand out to me - and the fact that I didn't have a single handed sword in my collection yet made me decide to pick up this sword first.
Initially I had ordered the sword through Kult of Athena as this means I could pick it up only slightly cheaper at $1,295 (738.04 British Pound Sterling) or EUR 1,245 through Albion-Europe (1023.74 British Pound Sterling) and at the point of purchase I was hit with my first dilemma - Oxblood Grip? I thought for a while and looked at the pictures of the colours on offer for customisation, I had liked the dark red leather wrap that Oxblood offered but figured that these colours may actually fade and darken more or look completely different in real life than through my display, I eventually decided on what quite honestly looked like it could have been a quite bright and gaudy looking red dye, gulped, and confirmed my purchase.
A month later I began thinking about this again I knew I was finally happy with the choice of grip but re-considered that while purchasing there was no option on KoA's website for fittings (Albions site offers further customisation for blueing, blackening and antiquing the furniture) I asked about this and when KOAs excellent customer service confimred they could facilitate my enquiry I immediately requested the fittings to be blued, after all, this would lower any maintenance on the sword and it'll look even more unique.
After months of waiting (I ordered in October 2013 and finally received the sword in April) my package finally arrived in the UK and after paying an import tax of £187 and £30 for the extra blueing this brought the grand to £955, or thereabouts.
I was expecting to open the parcel to see Albions famous white box, but no, must be something to do with it coming from KoA, no matter it was still securely packaged.
I'm glad I chose the colours and blueing options I did, the gaudy red I had expected was a more subdued but still vibrant shade and while the blueing certainly looks more like blackening to my eyes (perhaps not noticable in the picture but there is a hint of blue in the right light) it compliments the colours perfectly.
I haven't owned an Albion in the past simply down to expense but the fittings are expectedly tight with no rattle, the blade came perfectly sharp with no grind marks or scuffs of any kind and the leather bound handle was tightly wound and had no loose edges.
What I would say is that there is a dark black patch on one side of the grip which I expect is perhaps a product of the blueing procedure or colours somehow running into the leather but this only adds more character to the sword and I can't tell if this is infact intentional or not.
The sword has a distal taper and starting at a short ricasso of about 2 inches is accompanied by a single deep fuller surrounded by some simple etching that extends roughly half the length of the hexagonal, oakshott type XIX blade and terminates with a non spatulate almost chisel like tip.
Albions specifications of the weapon are as follows:
Specifications
Overall length: 40" (101.6 cm)
Blade length: 33.75" (85.73 cm)
Blade width: 1.48" (3.76 cm)
CoG: 7" (17.78 cm)
CoP: 23" (43.82 cm)
Weight: 1 lbs 14.5 oz (0.865 kilos)
I thought I would measure this just to make sure it was infact true
Just over 40" or my tape isn't spot on.
At 1 lb 14.5 Oz this is the lightest sword that Albion offer and I was expecting something that would handle like a dream - what I got however is something that feels much more like a chopper than something with fine point control but I am used to handling longswords and perhaps have been misled by this bias;
My Generation 2/ Legacy Arms Irish hand and a half (Reviewed here by Dan: www.sword-buyers-guide.com/irish-swords.html) feels better balanced even in one hand though certainly not as pretty.
What this means is that when it came down to a milk carton cutting test I rather batted the jug away a couple of times instead of slicing clean through, my technique is already terrible however and on the second attempt, right handed, took a swing from right to left instead of left to right and effortlessly cleaved the evil beast in twain.
I have heard that the type XIX's hexagonal cross section makes not for an easy cut and edge alignment is thusly more important than ever the overall the results I observed I conclude is more down to my own failings in technique than any failure with the blade itself.
Overall I am very pleased with my purchase and while perhaps not worth the total cost Albion charges it is certainly worthy in fit and finish the moniker of a "high end premium sword"