Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Sheffield-made Kaskara

Jim McDougall · 30th November 2011, 07:23 PM

Ibrahiim thank you so much for this very observant response, and especially for the added detail of the Sword of Stalingrad. I was completely unaware of that piece and it is most interesting that the steel was produced by Sanderson& Newbold. In material on the sword it is noted that the 'steel' was produced by this firm and the sword was forged by Wilkinson.
The firm was a steel producing company in Sheffield as noted from about c.1901 and before.
In wartime, any manufacturing firm can and usually will be 'retooled' for the war effort. In this case, a textile firm 'Platt Bros.' was indeed recruited to provide munitions as well as some machinery. Just how much textile production remained I am uncertain, but was certainly a good degree.
In WWII, bombers were built by many factories which had nothing to do with aviation....some appliance factories built them, car manufacturers etc. the lists are amazing.
During 1969 I worked for an electronics firm who produced warheads for 105 mm howitzers bound for Vietnam. The contracts were independant of the main production lines but produced by the same company heading.

The blades for many kaskaras are noted to have been produced during and after the Mahdiyya from lorry springs, and certainly other tool steel might have been used as well. In locally produced blades of such materials, the markings were not carefully guarded nor placed, as evidenced by other sheet steel blades with off center or partial remainders of original stock marks.
It is not unusual in many ethnographic weapons to discover these kinds of anomalies..I recall a Burmese 'silver' mounted dha from years ago where I found a discreetly placed stamp from Everready, the battery firm in the mounts.

The use of tools, especially files, is well known in weapons, and the first Bowie knife is actually believed fashioned from a file. This is especially common in SE Asia weapons as I understand.

All the best,
Jim

30th November 2011, 07:23 PM	#5
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 9,770	Ibrahiim thank you so much for this very observant response, and especially for the added detail of the Sword of Stalingrad. I was completely unaware of that piece and it is most interesting that the steel was produced by Sanderson& Newbold. In material on the sword it is noted that the 'steel' was produced by this firm and the sword was forged by Wilkinson. The firm was a steel producing company in Sheffield as noted from about c.1901 and before. In wartime, any manufacturing firm can and usually will be 'retooled' for the war effort. In this case, a textile firm 'Platt Bros.' was indeed recruited to provide munitions as well as some machinery. Just how much textile production remained I am uncertain, but was certainly a good degree. In WWII, bombers were built by many factories which had nothing to do with aviation....some appliance factories built them, car manufacturers etc. the lists are amazing. During 1969 I worked for an electronics firm who produced warheads for 105 mm howitzers bound for Vietnam. The contracts were independant of the main production lines but produced by the same company heading. The blades for many kaskaras are noted to have been produced during and after the Mahdiyya from lorry springs, and certainly other tool steel might have been used as well. In locally produced blades of such materials, the markings were not carefully guarded nor placed, as evidenced by other sheet steel blades with off center or partial remainders of original stock marks. It is not unusual in many ethnographic weapons to discover these kinds of anomalies..I recall a Burmese 'silver' mounted dha from years ago where I found a discreetly placed stamp from Everready, the battery firm in the mounts. The use of tools, especially files, is well known in weapons, and the first Bowie knife is actually believed fashioned from a file. This is especially common in SE Asia weapons as I understand. All the best, Jim Last edited by Jim McDougall; 30th November 2011 at 09:03 PM.