Short Kaskara

[kronckew]

when it rains, it pours kaskaras...

being short & camel-less, this one is more my size compared to my other one with the 35 in. blade in the other thread. on it's way from france, no scabbard. looks like a local blade, billed as early 20thc. (maybe later?) crude moons both sides of the blade. fibrous string wrapped grip.

Length 77cm (30" 1/4 in)

Blade length 64cm (25" 1/4 in)

Weight 634gr (22,36 oz)

[Edster]

Another good, honest Kaskara. Congrats! The grip wrap suggests Nile Valley or Butana Plain areas. The cross-guard is of the Sennar style.

I think the half moon marks are maker's marks. Many smiths used similar but individual designs depending on what punches were handy. They are probably a take-off of much earlier import blade marks. Blade appears not to have been sharpened much so it could been used as a wedding sword. As to age, your guess is as good as mine.

Best,
Ed

[kronckew]

thanks ed, sword arrived today, essentially as described earlier, the third of the blade nearest the grip is not sharpened, has about a 1mm rounded edge.

the forward 2/3 are field sharp, middle third could be better, the tip and about two inches or so back are very sharp & stabby. balance about 5 in. in front of the guard.

hand grip area is slightly shorter than my longer kaskara, by about a quarter inch.

blade cross section is essentially lenticular/hexagonal - flat sides with a convex edge sharpening with no noticable transition.

feels light & agile. blade is slightly springy but not overly so. not sure how thick - i need to buy a micrometer :).

no active rust anywhere, some dark patination tho. i'm off to give it a drink of ballistol...

[Jim McDougall]

Ed, thank you so much for the good notes on this, and for how much great detail and insight I have been able to add to my notes over the years on kaskara and Sudanese weapons thanks to you!

Nicely done Kronckew, keep em comin'!! :)

[Edster]

Jim, thanks for the kind words. In terms of ethnographic weapons I fear I'm only a one trick pony. Mostly I lurk, learn and marvel at the depth AND breadth of your knowledge and that of other members of the forum.

Best,
Ed

[kronckew]

yes, thanks, jim. your good will means a lot.

anyway, while oiling the blade, i of course held it by the grip. the cord wrap started to crumble & powder, broke in a number of places and fell off. the resin/varnish that held it all was powdered. cord was not salvageable.

the wood underneath was a it rough and there is a honking great flat iron staple more like a headed cotter pin that had been hammered in one side & out the other, then the 'legs' bent over the wood. looks like it was to hold it all together as there is a large split in the wood. been there i guess since the beginning. looks like the wood split when they rammed the handle onto the tang & peened it. or might have been a field repair. maybe why the grip is a tad short. that staple has been there a while.

some of the tang was showing thru the split tho there are no gaps or hollows. the tang showing was patinated but no red rust.

as it's not a major piece, i've further stabilized the split with HV acrylic superglue and re-wrapped the hilt with some brown cotton cord approx. the same dia. as the stuff that came off. i'll see what i have to re-varnish it with later today or so. applied some leather dressing to the leather over the pommel, it was pretty dry.

[David R]

Traditionally these do tend to have short pierced tangs held in place by a pin or nail..... so all is as should be there.

[kronckew]

thanks for the info. i feel better for it. :)

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

For the complete package see http://iainnorman.com/

[Edster]

I think the grip was originally wrapped with wet twisted goat skin lacing. Maybe 1/4 inch wide. Died a British Tan before you begin. Sort of the local/period take on a para-cord wrap.