Congo sword for ID and restoration advice
 

Hi All,

Just got this at a flea market, cheap.

Length 50 cm, blade 39.5 cm, width 12 cm.

These are the as-bought pictures. The guy I bought it from obviously doesn't take care of his merchandise.

Here are my questions:

1) Which tribe is it from? There are decorative lines on the blade (on both sides), but I haven't gotten a clean image of them yet. On the design, there are two incised curved lines on one side of the blade, one curved line on the other, coming to a "clip point" near the tip (like the outline of a bowie knife), with an "X" in a box right below the "clip." Edges aren't terribly sharp, and they've been bevel sharpened for a right-hander (opposite bevel on each edge).
2) How old is it? From handling it, it could be 10-20 years old and kept very badly, or 50-100 years old and kept somewhat better. It has been used, as evidenced by the dings on the bottom edge. Personally, I suspect the handle (dark stained light wood) is a replacement, but if so, it fits my hand quite well. Cracks in the handle suggest that it has been on the blade for at least a few years.
3) Conservation/restoration. Right now, I'm working on it with WD40, 00 steel wool, and rags to get rid of the active rust. How far should I go? I've had some success bringing out the lines of the pattern, but the blade's pretty pitted, and cleaning it to bare metal would damage the engravings. Since this is my first Congolese blade, I'm not sure how far to clean it before I start damaging it. Should I leave the dark patina that comes from WD40 and rust, or go further.

Thanks in advance,

F

This is from tribes in the east of the Congo, Lokele,Mbole, ect. I would just clean it with oil and some grit paper {carefully} if the rust is heavy and stubborn, using your finger tips just on the hard bits. Then just oil and steel wool from heavy to fine. If the blade looks a bit stark after that try shoe wax. As for age , wood does not last that long in the tropics so the handle could be a replacement, the blade could be much older.

This picture from "Der fer et de fierte" paints a thousand words about how isolated some Congo people were untill quite recent times. The truck and the gentlemen in thier Sunday best.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v426/jamhappy/AB.jpg

LOKELE knife from AMNH
Luc

Thanks Tim,

It's good to have better cleaning advice.

Thanks Luc,

Now I know where this one came from, and what a better-class example looks like.

F