Kaskara with unusual patterning in the blade

[katana]

Hi,
this Kaskara seems to have a very crude wootz-like pattening all over the blade (the pics do not show this clearly). Excellent temper and the edges are still quite sharp even though it was quite rusty. The blade is approx 4.5mm at the forte and the central fullers are forged....rather than ground.

I am not suggesting that this blade is made from some sort of course, wootz billet, but there is 'something' unusual. There is a 'bright' and 'dark' grainy effect as if there are two different grades of steel/iron. I wonder whether it is 'shear steel'. I remember reading somewhere that blades made from 'shear' were considered high quality.....but I cannot find the reference Evidence of re-sharpening of the blade....sometime ago. No markings.

I believe the blade is much older than the hilt (re-hilts are extremely common due to climatic conditions) The cross guard also has age.

Any and all comments gratefully received, thank you.

Regards David

[Rick]

Maybe rub a section of the blade with a little oil and take another closeup ?
Really hard to tell pitting from pattern in the piccys .

[RSWORD]

I agree that it is very difficult to determine the metalurgical details given how much pitting and patina are on the blade. To make a better guess, you can always polish a window in the blade and etch it to find out. However, given the low probability that it is wootz it might be prohibitive to find out especially if it turns out not to be wootz and then you have a clean window in an otherwise pitted and patina'ed blade.

[Lew]

I would say it is highly unlikely that this blade is wootz. It seems to be an older European trade blade.

[Jim McDougall]

Actually this type kaskara blade with this type fuller and the uniformity of the blade thickness suggest it is likely sheet steel which indeed does show some age. In some cases stock markings can be found among the locally applied imitations of the old European markings which are still often used.

I am not sure on the metallurgy of sheet steel, or the degrees of quality but it would be interesting to know more on this steel which was used for the blades produced there in the latter 19th century into the early 20th as the volume of remaining European blades diminished.

[katana]

Thank you all, for your comments, I will try and clean a window and post pictures. As I said before, I am certain this is not a form of wootz ...but helps described the grainy, contrasted effect.
Hi Jim, the blade is not uniformly the same thickness. At the forte it is 4.5mm ...distally tapering to approx 1mm at the tip. It is well made with a good temper...I believe a European trade blade. If this is shear steel ...likely British ? (Sheffield ?) ....or where other European suppliers manufacturing shear steel blades ?

KInd Regards David

[Jim McDougall]

Hi David,
Thank you for clarifying the dimensions......I guess 'uniformity' would be a bad description for a sword blade as it makes it sound as if it were a steel bar with bevels for edges It seems that with the advance of the Industrial Revolution, which of course covers considerable time, by the beginning of the 20th century there would have been considerable product availability in these types of steel.
In the British Sudan, naturally the products from Sheffield would have been prevalent, and I believe there have been discussions on markings found on Sudanese blades with remnants of sheet steel stock markings still visible. I believe some of these were established as Sheffield manufacturers.

Information I have says that the British were not producing blades for the Sudan, despite swords being produced for the Ottomans and Egyptian Army in the 19th century, but the later presence of sheet steel material would be aside from that.

It seems that European blades, which would have been from the earlier period, would have had either the central triple fuller or the long central fuller rather than the short channel seen on this, which seems to somewhat concur with the description in Lee's excellent article. I would add though, that the apparant age of the steel seen here may offer support for the European suggestion, though its form seems somewhat contrary from most trade blade examples. There are such ranges in variation in the endlessly recycled blades of these regions, anything is possible. It would seem that sheet steel would have reflected more of the modern treatment processes.

The native production of blades seems to have produced surprisingly well made examples. It seems curious that with the profound availability of European blades that had been around for many generations, as well as the keen production of numerous local armourers, that there would have been resort to these commercial steel product blades.

All the best,
Jim

[Rick]

Are we discussing Shear or Sheet steel, or both here ?

[katana]

I have decided not to 'create' a window, it would destroy the overall patina of the blade. As a compromise I have lightly sanded an area and oiled it. The darker areas are not pitted rusted areas. One of the pictures has been tweaked with high contrast which shows the overall uniformity of the 'patterning'. You could argue that the patina could be 'creating' the pattern...but to have such a consistent patina (and therefore pattern) over the entire blade....both sides seems strange.
The only other observation that may be relevent .....is the condition of the blade edges. Under magnification the sharp edge is almost 'micro serrated' ...not by design ......but it seems by the structure of the blade. It seems that minute particles (on the edge) have either corroded or worn at a different rate to the rest....almost suggesting that the blade is not homoganised steel


Shear Steel , a defination from "The Engineer's And Mechanic's Encyclopaedia Vol1" by Luke Hebert published 1849


.....Shear Steel
This name was given to a steel that was first made by Crowley, of Newcastle, about sixty years ago, in imitation of a peculiar kind of bar steel that we formerly imported from Germany. Crowley, however, stamped his production with the figure of a pair of shears, to indicate its suitable application. The process of making it at Sheffield, where the manufacture of this and all other kinds of British steel is conducted on an immense scale, is as follows: - The bars of blistered steel are broken into pieces of from one to two feet in length, which are then piled up into bundles or faggots of a size and weight adapted to their subsequent applications. The faggots are then taken up by means of a long bar having a ring at the end, into which one extremity of the faggot is inserted; and by means of the bar as a handle, a workman puts it into a reverberatory furnace, whence, after it is brought to a welding heat, it is taken out and placed under a heavy hammer, by which it is drawn out into a bar; this bar is then divided, the pieces laid together, brought again to a welding in the furnace, and then under the hammer, or by rolling, reduced to the size required.

By this process the steel has lost much of its previous brittleness, and has acquired a uniform texture, which adapts it to the manufacture of a great variety of edge tools and other purposes to which it was before unsuited. Various qualities of shear steel are made, distinguished by the terms half-shear, single-shear, and double-shear, according to the number of times it has been cut, piled, welded, and drawn out......."

Regards David

[stephen wood]

...Sheffield Kaskaras?

See this post

[Jim McDougall]

Very nicely done David!!! Thank you for getting that clarified on shear steel.

Thanks Stephen....interesting to see there was evidence of some Sheffield kaskaras, even if at this point this was just one. The other blade with the remnant stock markings you had was another, it was four letters that were off center in the blade.

[stephen wood]

...and the kaskara with the stock marking near the tip is here

[Jim McDougall]

Thanks.

[katana]

Thanks for the info Stephen. Perhaps Sheffield, or even Birmingham could have been a source of trade blades for the Kaskara. The complete lack of marking, could be, perhaps, considered circumstantial evidence....afterall would British swordsmiths 'advertise' the fact that they have supplied an enemy's arsenal ??

I found this 'curious' quote which may support this .....

"....In the Sudan, Major E A De Cosson who served with Sir Gerald Graham's field force at Suakin in April 1888 noted how the local inhabitants entrepreneurially met the demand for souvenirs and war trophies. On the day the expedition was brought to a close, he 'rode into the town in the evening and found the streets thronged with officers buying souvenirs. The native population are waking up to the fact that money is to be made and the women and children offering their silver bangles for sale; shields and swords have run up to ?£5 a piece, and spears to ?£2 or ?£3. There is a little Italian who keeps a curiosity shop, a sort of niche in a wall, and he had new spears manufactured every day. They say an armourer on one of the ships turned an honest penny by making a lot of spear-heads and having them mounted, and that a batch of "real Soudan spears" has already been sent out from Birmingham.'

http://www.michaelstevenson.com/africanart/essay.htm

Regards David