View Full Version : A little takouba and telek
Iain
19th July 2014, 10:35 AM
Just a simple little village grade takouba, probably turn of the century or a bit after. Quite a simple thing with a soft iron blade. An interesting example of native forging.
Iain
19th July 2014, 10:36 AM
More pics...
A.alnakkas
19th July 2014, 07:42 PM
very cool! you know my collection of saifs, there is always a simple one around too! they have a spirit to them :-)
colin henshaw
21st July 2014, 07:58 AM
Good honest pieces, Iain. I like the native-made blades; do you think they are made from African smelted ore ?
Did you clean rust from the blades, if so what method have you used ? The result seems sympathetic to the metal.
Regards.
Iain
21st July 2014, 09:33 AM
Thanks Colin and Lofty for the comments.
Colin, I did not clean these beyond a light oiling. From the look of the metal I would surmise a light polishing compound was used at some point. I am reasonably happy with the look and have no plans to change it for now.
I too like these simple honest blades. The tak is far better than the telek and seems to have some genuine age. The telek less so I think with visible grind marks and no real sharpness to the edge.
I think the takouba is made from locally smelted iron, or at least was made from "scratch", the telek looks more likely to be recycled steel to me.
I find these examples in some ways more interesting than the better quality typical 19th century trade blades. There is a lot more variance.
I forgot to mention in the original post that unusually the core of the grip on this sword is wood, with a layer of metal over top, then leather.
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