African Swords actually used?

[werecow]

Originally Posted by Lew

Here are some Boa tribe swords and I would not want to be on the pointy end of them. Also this Zande dagger with ivory hilt the blade is stout and deadly

Lew

Ran across this thread and thought I'd add my two cents here. I have these two swords below. The smaller one (55.5 cm long, 6 cm wide at the widest point) is of superior quality and would IMO make a very effective stabbing weapon. It is 8mm thick at the thinnest point profile wise (tapering in both directions from there; see last picture) and weighs 419 grams.

The one that is overcompensating for my mediocre sized genitalia (92.5 cm long 9.4 cm at the widest point - the sword, not the genitalia) is either non-functional - ironic, I know - or alternatively, must have been made not for an average Congolese man but rather for either a giant or a large silverback gorilla on steroids (riding a bull bush elephant no doubt), because it is very heavy to wield due to its forward weight, in spite of only weighing 883 grams. The blade is thin enough to sag under its own weight (although it is stiffer than I would have guessed based on the 4mm width). Still, it is fairly sharp and could probably cleave an unarmored person in half vertically. If it was made to intimidate the opponent without bloodshed as suggested on this forum, then mission accomplished! The pictures don't quite do it justice. I have named it Titanoboa.

EDIT: Added a picture of the distal taper on the smaller one since it suggests that this one was intended for use. Titanoboa has no such complex distal taper and was IMO purely ceremonial, or, as suggested on the forums, possibly intended as money - in which case I'm presumably quite wealthy now.