steel in african weapons

[ausjulius]

well im interested , the most african weapons ive inspected are either of soft iron or are very poorly hardned,

by african i mean the bantu speeking folk of african not north africa..


did these folk ever use any technique of laminating soft iron and hard steel or anly other more advanced techniques,,.. and how advanced was their temepering and heat treatment...
also for that matter does anyone have any fotos of their smithing tools and their anvils .. and how their smiths originaly worked,, the long milti fullered blades woudl take some workand skill to create ,, what sort of anvil was used and what styles of tools.. hammers tongs, ect ect.....

also to what exstent was body armour used,, as iron was plentiful in africa how far into africa did its use exstend, i know in etheopia is was comonly used aswell as horse armour as in southern sudan chainmail and helmets and the like were common and was quilted armour and horse armour but south of this ............ ???