Weapon Metallurgy: History and Shoptalk (swords, etc...)

[kemp]

That wraps it up for me on this aspect of sword history, namely the large blades used in medieval southeastern Europe. At a much later time I might post a little on the medieval edged weapons of northern Europe.

One of my favourite vids on unplugged bladesmithing. No power tools. A piston pump powered charcoal forge, an anvil made from a sledge hammer and a simple staple vice. 

How Blacksmiths make Traditional Thai Machetes

[kemp]

I have spent these posts talking about the ‘tools of the trade’, but equally important to mention how these weapons were used.


Various works by medieval fencing masters such as Liechtenauer and Talhoffer went into some detail to explain the many forms of fighting using longswords, messers, daggers, sword and buckler and so on, techniques used for centuries, but mostly recorded in manuals ( illustration and text ) in the closing centuries of the middle ages and adopted in various forms afterwards.

The European martial fighting arts seems to be very oriented on getting the job done in the most direct way possible, and there are instructions on the correct footwork, the proper guards, striking, leverage and thrusts.


It was all about fighting the opponent as opposed to the weapon, and there are various winding techniques to trap the opponent’s blade and turn a defence into a quick counter offence, nothing was wasted, the quick advantage taken before the momentum was lost.


This was a dynamic form of fighting born from the grim realism of surviving a sword fight in an age where these confrontations were common place, or at least much more common than in this age.


Just an after thought from me, and I think the better place to get into the details would be the HEMA thread where others have already covered some of the above to some degree.

[kemp]

My main area of interest when it comes medieval weapons is mostly from the High and late medieval era, but I am a fan of some of the blades of the early middle ages too, basically Viking style weaponry, especially when it comes to knives and the short sword single edged designs, such as this Nijmegen sax from 500 – 600 AD.



The practical utilitarian aspect of Viking weaponry appealed to me, many of the Viking raiders/traders also worked as farmers on their land or fished. 

 

[kemp]

I realise that this is not a bladesmithing thread, and that there are other places on the web where people can discuss techniques and equipment in great detail, but I thought I would drop this tube on the backyard neo tribal creation of a Viking short sword/sax.

Backyard Swordsmithing- Part 1 (Forging a Sword from a Leaf-spring) by Phil Baumhardt




The blade has a rough and ready look to it, it screams BARBARIAN.

I have to hammer out one of those myself at some point.

I think I will take a break from posting for a spell, get some projects done, and enjoy a bit of a read up on the Viking, Celtic and Turk threads. Stay cool.

[Char-Vell]

Nice Sax!

I've developed an interest in weirdo African swords lately, like this Ethiopian Shotel

Attachments:

[kemp]

Africans have used both curved and straight double edged swords for centuries. 

I found some great pics of sickle bladed swords and other unique designs on google, but since google made the decision recently to get rid of ‘view image’ in google images it has become harder to download pictures of some of these blades, but it is still easily downloadable from yahoo images.

African sword from Mali



Ethiopian curved sickle sword.

[kemp]

A type of double edged straight sword with a spatulate tip called a Kaskara was used in the Sudan, Chad and Eritrea.




The kaskara originated in the middle ages and probably represents a localised survival in Africa of the straight, double-edged medieval Arab sword ( by the late 13th century, curved swords predominated in the Arab world, especially after the Turkish Seljuk migration from central Asia )


This link has some further information on the kaskara broadswords of Sudanic Africa.


www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/kaskara/index.html

[kemp]

I looked around for a tube on African sword making, techniques, tools, forging and heat treatment, especially the kaskara, but nothing except some aljazeera report that basically said that traditional sword making in modern Africa was a dying art. 

We must make note here that many of the kaskara blades where produced in European blade making centres such as Solingen and sold to Africans, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, who went on to hilt the blades in the local style. This was a common practise, many Scottish swords came from the European mainland, that is, bare blades which later had the cross guard, handle and pommel added in the country that they were sent to. 

This scholagladiatoria report is worth noting


Antique Sudanese kaskara sword



I have been able to find this video on blacksmiths working in a Mali charcoal forge making hand hoes (dabaw). The forge is traditional powered by a hand cranked blower.

[Char-Vell]

Great stuff, kemp!

Keep it up!

I seem to remember something about the Tauregs copying the Crusader's swords, but the details escape me. Have you come across anything on that?



(I could google it myself, but that would make for a dull forum, no?)

[kemp]

Feb 28, 2018 7:38:23 GMT -5 Char-Vell said:

Great stuff, kemp!

Keep it up!

I seem to remember something about the Tauregs copying the Crusader's swords, but the details escape me. Have you come across anything on that?



(I could google it myself, but that would make for a dull forum, no?)

Char-Vell, thanks for your contributions here. It was your post with the cool pic of the Ethiopian Shotel that inspired me to get back to some of the African weapons.


I have been researching traditional European and Asian sword and knife manufacture. It is only right that we encompass Africa in this study.


The semi nomadic Tauregs are an interesting lot, skilled artisans, a reputation as warriors and also highway men who exacted tolls along the trans Saharan caravan routes, mostly descended from a branch of the Berbers of the Sahara.


A type of caste system operates in the Taureg community. The blacksmith endogenous caste might have evolved from contact with the Sudanese peoples since the term for blacksmith are of non Berber origin, ‘gargassa’ and the northern Taureg term ‘enaden’ which means ‘the other’. The enaden ( Inadan ) are predominantly of Negroid Sudanic African ancestry ( unlike the general Tauregs , both admired and distrusted due to their association with fire and iron.


The Taureg confederation also acquired slaves from raids in West Africa. The slaves were generally of Negroid heritage. The practise is outlawed these days, although still existence to a certain degree

It must be noted here that the Berbers, although African, are not an Arab or Negroid peoples ( although there is some assimilation of West African peoples in the case of the Tauregs, notably the Inadan caste ).

[kemp]

Some info on the Taureg Takouba sword.


‘Takouba: Swords of the Saharan Tuareg’


www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/takouba.html


‘Having broad, straight, double-edged blades averaging 74 to 84 cm. (29 to 33 inches) in length and a simple cross-guard, the takouba, like the more westerly Sudanese kaskara, has long been confused with medieval European swords. Current learned opinion is that these swords are a distinct and entirely indigenous African type, although speculations of possible influence from Spain via the Almoravides in the 11th Century or from medieval Arab broadswords have been made. European blades, dating as early as the 16th Century, have been identified in typical takouba mountings and are documented by Briggs (1965), who also presents evidence for a significant Saharan trade in such blades from the 16th Century until the early 19th Century. Briggs (1965) also notes that many blades of European form and with European style markings are known to have been made locally in the Sudan (the broad Savannah region south of the Saharan desert) and Sahara as late as the mid-20th Century. The vast majority of the takoubas which the modern collector is likely to encounter are entirely of African workmanship.’



Note that the Taureg Takouba has some resemblance to the Sudanese Kaskara ( especially the hilt) although exhibits a more profile taper, but with a rounded point.

[kemp]

This is a good run down at the varied styles of swords used in Africa.

It covers styles of swords used both in West Africa. 

African Swords: Western vs Eastern




HomeTeam History is part of a series on African history.

[kemp]

Mandinka Saber

[kemp]

Tribal Ida sword 



The above comprises some swords from central and west Africa.

[kemp]

A last note from me on surviving Arab straight swords; that is, swords used extensively in the near east and north Africa before curved swords such as the Shamshir became popular in usage, especially in the case of the near east.

I would like to make mention of the Kattari sword with a straight double edged variant used in Oman. This is a near east example from the Arabian penninsula.

Location for these type of swords are from the interior of Oman. As in the case of the North African Kaskara, some of the Kattari blades were manufactured in Europe, but hilted in the local style in Oman.