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