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I Forge Iron

ChrisDK

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  1. I was thinking of something like this picture. These blades were pretty much identical in size and shape to many European swords (schaivona, scottish broadsword), so maybe not so much a stretch to think that they basically used the same pattern.
  2. Thanks Thomas, that makes perfect sense to me regarding the line. I guess these guys were not worried about professionalism and neatness as long is it worked. Kaskara were cutting weapons and the way they used them was with a kind of buckler, so probably blade on blade contact was not the norm (balance is horrible on these), so I guess strength was less of an issue. If a trade blade had a typical tang that needed narrowing and thickening, would be be likely it could turn out like this, assuming starting from a broader flat starting point?
  3. That is all really useful thank you for the responses. As I said I'm no bladesmith so I appreciate your patience. I can supply a little more information. The shorter kaskara tang is 100% in line with the ´typical form. This was a particular sword type that uses a pin through a wooden (usually) grip to secure the blade. The pommel has no structural function but is just a leather disc to stop the hand slipping. I recently disassembled 6 of my swords and the form of the tang was the same with a seam up the middle where to me it looks like the metal was folded over then hammered out again. These were 1 18th century, 3 19C and 2 20C. The blade itself does vary with age. The 18C has a more rounded profile, and all are slightly thicker towards the base of the blade. I see no hammer marks on the blades (which do occur on some blades from the area). Old texts refer to Hausa smiths as mounting the blades and making the fittings, but not creating the blade itself. My ideas here have been considering 3 possible sources for these mystery blades: 1) Locally produced from imported or locally sourced steel. If this was done anywhere it could most likely have been Kano, and then traded via the trans-Saharan trade routes. I think that this route is unlikely since to make a blade like this I understand from your replies that you would assume at least the use of a rudimentary form for mass production, and to my knowledge there were no trip hammers or water powered tools in use in sub-Saharan Africa at that time. 2) A almost finished blade ready to be adapted to local mounts, from Solingen traded via Alexandria/Cairo moving South-west. Here my worry is that all the Solingen blades I own have a different profile and colour to the steel (lighter colour than the 'mystery' blades). This could easily be because the steel sourced was different and different makes produced different blade qualities, but it is noticeable and consistent. 3) Italian blades - here I know that Tuaregs often had Italian bladed daggers from Tunis, traded south. It may be that the sword blades were from the same route but were unmarked and therefore it was not noticed that they were also Italian. Your replies are extremely useful because from this I learned that the blade itself could feasibly have been mounted by local smiths, hence the poor workmanship, and that due to the softer tang this local refitting is quite possible. The dukari (half moons) could also be stamped locally (cold) either by local smiths (here I suspect this requires a very good stamp so maybe not), or a middleman who imported the blades applying the dukari and then selling them on. For European imports the flatter profile of the blades might give a hint. I believe drop-forging appeared aroung 1860-1870 in Solingen at least, so mass production as described by Frosty would have been an option from this point on. Wherever they came from I believe it points to relatively mass produced 'blanks' with the fitting adjusted to the takouba or kaskara as needed. Btw 1950s kaskara were produced from lorry or Land Rover leaf-springs, and entirely locally. Unfortunately I do not have a bone-fide example of one of these to compare to. I attached two more images - one showing this form of tang, the other being (I think) from Solingen showing a process of cutting to fit the kaskara needs. There is no 'folding' at the base of the tang on this one, so no mystery here what was done. Thanks again for your help and patience. Chris
  4. Its a really nice example. I don't recall seeing one with the blade like yours - plenty of Kull, wolf marked, and W.Claubergs. Whilst I am sure not really the Mahdi's, it may well have been owned by someone important. I believe Ali Dinar the last Sultan of Darfur owned hundreds of personal swords. These would often be family heirlooms, and a good blade cost the price of a young riding camel So you have a fine and rare example I would say.
  5. Sorry to revive this old thread, I only just joined and could not resist. For sure that was a kaskara from Sudan. It might be quite a significant one. A kaskara with double-headed eagles on it was reportedly in the possession of the Mahdi (here it was described as having holy roman double headed eagle on it but maybe it was this eagle). Large numbers of European blades were imported to Sudan, the vast majority German during the mid 19C. Many have European engravings on them, and some also date to 18C. Quite a few are marked with the running wolf of Passau, but I think that these are also Solingen productions since they widely copied that mark - perhaps you have some proof that there was also some Austrian trade. Anyhow very nice blade.
  6. Hello everyone I am not a bladesmith nor have I ever hit hot metal with a hammer, but I do own a lot of swords and I'm doing some research into the history of swords in N. Africa. The link below is to pictures of a takouba, a sword typical of the Sahel. This particular example is quite old, probably 19C. It has been well used and sharpened many times over its life, clearly used for cutting (no armour to contend with). Often old examples become spatulate. In researching these and other swords in Sudan (usually knows as kaskara) I noticed that this form of fairly flat triple fuller blade with two half moon stamps is common to both and I am trying to find out where they might come from. I assume these are trade blades from Europe (of which there was a surplus in the late 19C). But I cannot rule out local manufacture elsewhere in Africa. So I realized I needed some professional help to understand the bladesmithing processes, hence here I am My questions are regarding the process of creating this tang. The pictures show two of the takouba tang and a third of a kaskara tang with virtually identical blade. On the kaskara tang you see some scratches which are actually etching (suns, moons, stars) which are typical of early 19C blades. The etchings extend beyond the shoulder of the blade, hence why I assume this was a blade made first, then adapted to the kaskara. The takouba tang looks to be made in the same way, but needs to be a different shape because it has to be peened over the end of the pommel (kaskara is held by a peg). How do you think this was done? I assume the tang was wider and full length as you would expect from a broadsword blade, then it is cut and folded in to thicken the tang (or make it square for the takouba). Would this not damage the temper of the blade? To me it looks as though the fullers were ground first before this process was carried out. I'm also interested in the half-moons. These are stamped into the blade. In this case one has been struck twice. Could this be done by local smiths mounting the blade or does it need to be done hot, which again I assume could damage the temper of the blade? I am interested to know whether these were marked by the maker (in which case they knew the buyer because these moons are a linked to certain N.African tribes) or by lot smith mounting the blade. Finally, would there be any way of knowing if these were European or from elsewhere? These may be impossible questions to answer, but any help understanding what was done would be greatly appreciated. I have more examples and photos if it will help. I'm in Denmark if anyone is local. https://photos.app.goo.gl/r9dXcSzZu7qAE3yc7 Thanks for your help. Chris
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