The Africans kept their weapons very clean, this can be seen on original pictures. Many have beautiful engraving. Why let these engraving covered by that black “patina” making them often hardly visible. (Not to confuse with the blackened part on the blade of some swords, Kuba etc) The many copper wire and nails used on the hilt would be useless if not kept clean.
I noticed that swords brought back from Belgian Congo in e.g. the first part of the 20th C. don’t have that black “patina”. The active usage of these weapons at that time probably made it impossible to acquire such patina. Apart of removing the active rust, those don’t need any further treatment. It is a real pleasure to clean these weapons.
However, those that stayed in Africa for dozens of years, unused, stored in that harsh climate, only those show such black blade. And cleaning could take some time as noted Sajen.
In my opinion, if you like to have your weapons as they were at the time they were used, you should clean the blade. “Showing their age” is just showing what they look like if being unused for many dozens of years. But that’s not the African way of preserving their weaponry. Only my opinion.
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