Interesting Totokia

Kinikini · 22nd November 2014, 12:00 PM

Thanks for your comment and interest in this club.........I am aware that clubs with lead inlays do exist but these are Not inlays, they really are musket/pistol shot, and here's why...............One of the shot is loose enough to lift up about 10mm but no more because it has "mushroomed" on contact and swollen inside the shaft, just like you would expect to find if you fired a musket ball into a barn door,( the lead has almost liquefied on
impact). The hole its made is as much a dent/crater as a hole. This has not been been drilled and it's not a deformity/knot in the grain, it's been caused by compression/penetration. The other musket ball has also dented the shaft on impact. There are also several other areas of the club that have tiny fragments of lead embedded in the wood that I would say are the result of lead shot hitting the club but at such an angle that they have failed to penetrate like the others and skidded off the wood.
I also doubt if anyone would drill such deep (20-25mm) into the shaft and hammer lead shot into it,as this would have weakened the shaft to the point that it's split.
Finally....Let's imagine that I am right about the Musket balls.......and that the club had been used in a battle against an enemy armed with Muskets and Pistols......Bullets/shot must have been flying everywhere as well as a great deal of blood!!! All the best Kinkini

DaveA · 22nd November 2014, 07:23 PM

Thanks for sharing this. I am extremely fond of ethnographic weapons with a story, even if all the facts might never be known. This one in particular gives a vivid sense of history.

I am imagining the warrior who wielded the club, standing off against powerful invaders (in fairness, he could have been the attacker). Did he have such keen eyes and was he fast enough to block multiple relatively slow shots, perhaps from a distance? Or were these two of many shots that ultimately brought him down?

With the club so severely weakened by the impacts, the fact that it is intact suggests that the owner didn't get a chance to use it afterward. It would likely have shattered. Or if he survived, these events might have made it seem very lucky and he put it away. Either way, it is probably a trophy!

Welcome to the forum and best regards,

Dave A.

David · 22nd November 2014, 10:07 PM

This is an interesting story indeed, though frankly i do find it a big hard to believe that not just one, but two musket balls could hit such a slender piece of wood without shattering it. It would be interesting to so a test with a working musket and a similar piece of wood to see what the damage would loud like. Of course, anything is possible i suppose.

Kinikini · 23rd November 2014, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveA

Thanks for sharing this. I am extremely fond of ethnographic weapons with a story, even if all the facts might never be known. This one in particular gives a vivid sense of history.

I am imagining the warrior who wielded the club, standing off against powerful invaders (in fairness, he could have been the attacker). Did he have such keen eyes and was he fast enough to block multiple relatively slow shots, perhaps from a distance? Or were these two of many shots that ultimately brought him down?

With the club so severely weakened by the impacts, the fact that it is intact suggests that the owner didn't get a chance to use it afterward. It would likely have shattered. Or if he survived, these events might have made it seem very lucky and he put it away. Either way, it is probably a trophy!

Welcome to the forum and best regards,

Dave A.

I am pleased to read how you have imagined what was going on at the time this brave warrior probably joined his ancestors in the spirit world. Considering the amount of hot lead that must have been flying about at the time and the fact that the shaft has been hit 3 times (2 penetrated 1 didn't) it only stands to reason that the club and it's owner had been subjected to "concentrated" fire from more than one Musket, maybe dozens, in a short space of time. If we look at it logically ....Take a target the same size as a man and draw a Totokia on it being held in front of his chest or (if you want to make it really difficult) above his head........Now fire as many musket balls from various distances as it takes to hit the shaft at least 3 times......I bet you couldn't do it in less than 20 shots....that leaves 17 close misses that would have ripped the rest of the target to pieces, any one of which could have fatally wounded the Warrior. All the best, K

22nd November 2014, 12:00 PM	#1
Kinikini Member Join Date: Oct 2014 Posts: 18	Interesting Totokia......Musket/Pistol shot.....NOT Inlays !!! Thanks for your comment and interest in this club.........I am aware that clubs with lead inlays do exist but these are Not inlays, they really are musket/pistol shot, and here's why...............One of the shot is loose enough to lift up about 10mm but no more because it has "mushroomed" on contact and swollen inside the shaft, just like you would expect to find if you fired a musket ball into a barn door,( the lead has almost liquefied on impact). The hole its made is as much a dent/crater as a hole. This has not been been drilled and it's not a deformity/knot in the grain, it's been caused by compression/penetration. The other musket ball has also dented the shaft on impact. There are also several other areas of the club that have tiny fragments of lead embedded in the wood that I would say are the result of lead shot hitting the club but at such an angle that they have failed to penetrate like the others and skidded off the wood. I also doubt if anyone would drill such deep (20-25mm) into the shaft and hammer lead shot into it,as this would have weakened the shaft to the point that it's split. Finally....Let's imagine that I am right about the Musket balls.......and that the club had been used in a battle against an enemy armed with Muskets and Pistols......Bullets/shot must have been flying everywhere as well as a great deal of blood!!! All the best Kinkini Attached Images

22nd November 2014, 07:23 PM	#2
DaveA Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Wisconsin, USA Posts: 415	Vivid scene Thanks for sharing this. I am extremely fond of ethnographic weapons with a story, even if all the facts might never be known. This one in particular gives a vivid sense of history. I am imagining the warrior who wielded the club, standing off against powerful invaders (in fairness, he could have been the attacker). Did he have such keen eyes and was he fast enough to block multiple relatively slow shots, perhaps from a distance? Or were these two of many shots that ultimately brought him down? With the club so severely weakened by the impacts, the fact that it is intact suggests that the owner didn't get a chance to use it afterward. It would likely have shattered. Or if he survived, these events might have made it seem very lucky and he put it away. Either way, it is probably a trophy! Welcome to the forum and best regards, Dave A.

22nd November 2014, 10:07 PM	#3
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,218	This is an interesting story indeed, though frankly i do find it a big hard to believe that not just one, but two musket balls could hit such a slender piece of wood without shattering it. It would be interesting to so a test with a working musket and a similar piece of wood to see what the damage would loud like. Of course, anything is possible i suppose.