[gp]

just collected it from the seller and the root cause is even more simple, amazing but very logical than we could have guessed...


the seller told me it was caused by animal fat, which was used by the Kuba for protection reasons. Both to the blade as to the wooden handle as well.
Obviously in the bush in the 1920ies they had no grease or fancy protection material as we have nowadays.
So they used what they had and by experience what worked well.

But the Congolese couldn't take the ignorance of the white Europeans into consideration, who just took these cold weapons to far away destinations and never asked how to deal, handle and threat them....
Hence after decades or like mine a century...not being threated well, stored in a house or monastery ... the fat dried out, became hard, mixed with dust and dirt, next to the influence of the climate and you saw the result.

The seller did clean a bit, he told me but left it as it was, because it is a quite time consuming activity ( as I am starting to learn now...)

But knowing the root cause, it is clear what to do: elbow grease....!
Unfortunately under the blackish layer, some oxidation had started.
Althoug dry and old... more elbow grease required.

This puts now a different perspective to my complete Congolese collection, but also a big smile on my face as I think or know for sure that I shall like them more once cleaned from the animal fat...
As for the long road ahead to get there ... like the French Foreign Legion sings "Marchons dans le sable brûlant,"☺☺☺ as it doesn't come off easy but eventually it does.
So I started this one and tried a few which looked similar and am very positive about the preliminary result. Still a long way to go...☼
Especially with 2 Tetela daggers of 52 and 49 cm long.....