West African sword for I.D. & comment

[Timo Nieminen]

Originally Posted by colin henshaw

Do any forumites have further comments on the intriguing metal "sandwich" at the forte area ? Just to strengthen the assemblage ? outside influences etc ?

In my experience, things like this have one (or maybe 2) of these functions:

(1) It can stiffen the base of the blade. If the base of the blade is very thin, this should be suspected. This might be the case here.

(2) It can be to attach the blade to the hilt. In an extreme case, the blade might have no tang, and be held on by this kind of sandwich. Or, the tang might be glued into or peened or pinned onto the grip, and the sandwich used to secure a guard. Not the case here. More generally, this kind of structural use usually involves rivets through the sandwich, and I don't see any here. So not this.

(3) It can give a secure fit in the scabbard. Since it suddenly increases the thickness at the base of the blade, the scabbard can be made so that the blade has clearance to move freely, except for a tight fit between the sandwich and the scabbard mouth. This tight fit will stop the sword from falling out, and as soon as you get the sandwich out, the rest of the sword comes out easily. The fit at the mouth might not be tight any more, if the scabbard mouth has worn, but if it's a reasonably close fit at the mouth, and the blade moves easily in and out when the sandwich has left the scabbard, this is one function of the sandwich.