Home Again Sgian

[O'Neille]

Got back in town and had to make a sgian that was promised before I got lost. Tonight the moon is just a sliver, the coyotes are howling and all sorts of animals are moving about. I was in the shop and every rustle made me jump out of my skin. I kept reaching for something to make me feel better. I came in and put on my tactical harness and didn't have a problem concentrating on making the sgian the rest of the night.

Here are some pictures of the pieces and assembly. It's a damascus blade with very fine folds, moose antler, and bayleen.













I hope the new owner likes it. I'm printing a label next.

[Raptor]

That's nice. Love the patterning on the damascus.

[McMurdo]

Very nice looking sgian dubh. I'm sure the lucky recipient will love it.

[Archangel]

Very nice.

This is my project for my holidays in the first weeks of July.

Can I ask a couple of questions, for learning not challenges?

All those pieces were just epoxied together? How does that hold up in a working knife?

The antler handle is curved, why did you put the curve on top?

The "bolster" and "pommel" are baleen, do they shine up to that nice black naturally?

[O'Neille]

Bayleen shines like a stone. It is not as hard so it can be scratched or dented if dropped. What you see is just sanded to shape and shined with grey rouge on a wheel. It will burn if you get it to hot and turn brown. Here is How I get things to stay together. I rough up the butt cap (tiny drill holes about 1mm into it at angles) so it can adhere well to the epoxy. I temporarily set it w/ two drops of super glue. If I wanted bomb proof I'd just put a stud of some sort through the cap. When I drill a handle I usually just make sure I've got them lined up precisely from both sides and finish the two sides with a small square file. Then I can try the blade in any of the four possible configurations and the one that feels and looks best wins.

I'm thinking that slick stuff like stone and metal would be poor materials to glue up. I would then be drilling and tapping or threading everything together.

[David Dalglish]

Lovely job, looks great

[Archangel]

Thanks, that was informative.