I once had a Salampasu sword which had a piece of cloth tied round the base of the blade (near the handle). It was very dirty and when I pulled it, it desintegrated. At the time, I wondered what it was.
Later I found some pics in a German book on African weapons. Both Salampasu swords had cloth tied to the blade.
I should have left my sword untouched, but I didn't know
Here's a pic from that book :
