Short Kaskara
 

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)

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

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...

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'!! :)

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

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.

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

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

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

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.