Samburu/Maasai spear

[Timo Nieminen]

Looks authentic. These aren't very tourist-friendly - even disassembled they are luggage-challenging. Modern tourist ones are usually shorter in my experience (and often have fancy carved middle sections).

In the photo, the hollow sections of the blade look forge-blackened (tourist ones are sometimes painted black). That's usually a symptom of recent manufacture. If, instead, it's had the original forge-blackening polished off and is dark because it's patinated, then it's older. I can't tell which from the photo.

Given that the shank and most of the tail are round and of uniform diameter, the easy way to make one (for approximately the last hundred and a bit years) would be to start with round rod, and just forge the blade and socket. Which makes me wonder:

(a) whether the rod usually used has enough carbon for useful quench-hardening of the head, and if not, whether steel edges (or even entire steel blades) were added to the heads, and

(b) whether these long-shanked, long-tailed spears were made before imported iron/steel rod was available. It can be done, since similar long-shanked spears were made in antiquity. Does anybody have an example not made from rod to show off? I wonder whether the shank would be as uniform in diameter.