A big happy takouba family

[Lee]

Hello Iain,

Unfortunately there are the occasional borderline examples and rare obvious exceptions to this rule, but, after you have physically handled a number of these, usually you may use flexibility to assess the origin of your takouba and kaskara blades. Attempt to gently flex the blade in your hands - a European antique will curve with light force and spring right back to straight when released. A local blade will be much more rigid and, if you apply sufficient force, will bend and remain bent. So, gentle does it! As an alternative, you can bounce the flat of the blade against the side of your leg while standing - the European blade will vibrate while the more rigid local blade will react more with a dead thud. Some of this is alloy and heat treatment (which in the laboratory may be quantified with hardness tests and micro-structural analysis) and some is thickness and cross section.

I have seen a few of these, like yours, with the broad central fuller having a narrow fuller on either side and I recall they have always given the impression of well-formed, quality blades. Somehow, amazingly, I have failed to acquire an example of my own. There was such a nice one with silver mounts on offer in Agadez in 2001, but I was still reeling and impecunious from my adventure with Tuareg brigands in the dunes.