What is a good traditional wood for a Jacobite dirk?

**Brasilikilt** · 24th January 12, 02:19 PM

Greetings

A current project of mine is to furnish a fellow X-marks member with a hand forged dirk and sgian achlais blades, so he can have a nice project of making his own handles.
To save this guy some hassle, I burned the dirk's tang into a piece of "boxwood" and roughed out the handle on my lathe and belt sander.

The problem is that the "boxwood" handle developed a nasty crack that keeps getting bigger, and glue doesn't hold it together. Since I don't want to pass this problem onto anyone else, I figured I would make a new handle.

I've researched this and recall mention of boxwood, bog oak, and oak tree roots being especially popular, but can also imagine yew and maple being rather common.
My mother had a dogwood tree go down in her yard a few years back, and pondered the suitability of this species to use as a handle.

Since authenticity is important to both me and the dirk's new owner, I figure I would post the question and get some feedback from those of you in the know.

thanks for your help

Iain

**Ryan Ross** · 24th January 12, 03:05 PM

First off, the dirk and other blades are looking awesome.

Secondly, I've worked with dogwood a fair ammount, and I think it would be a wonderful material to use. Strong, almost no grain texture to speak of, and it carves pretty well (I find, anyway). I'm just guessing here, but I doubt it would be a very traditional material, though.

**MacBean** · 24th January 12, 03:06 PM

Your resident ethnobotanist to the rescue! (with lots of help from his trusty companion Wikipedia).

I'm not sure dogwood is native to Scotland. Would you consider rowan? Here's what Wikipedia says: "The wood is dense and used for carving and turning and for tool handles and walking sticks". The American equivalent is called mountain ash (same tree really). Of course, I'm no historian!

**Ryan Ross** · 24th January 12, 03:16 PM

I know this is off-topic, but those are beautiful Scandis!

**T-Bone** · 24th January 12, 05:41 PM

According to this, walnut trees are a relatively new species in Scotland. However, it makes a very nice handle material.

**Brasilikilt** · 26th January 12, 11:04 AM

Hello!

Ryan, thanks for your compliments on the blades! Interested in buying/trading for one? :-)

About the dogwood-I looked it up on Wiki and another name for it is 'False Boxwood'....
I have never carved it, but realized it's hardness and nice color whilst I was cutting it up.
It's nice to get feedback from one with a bit of experience with it.

Rowan....Yes, of course I would consider it, and would love to get my hands on some, but it's seemingly not available commercially as lumber.
There is a nursery right around the corner, it might be worth it to ask them.....They still haven't called me about my Blackthorn (prunus spinosa) though.

Walnut was one of the first and more obvious choices, as walnut had been used extensively in Europe. It was a very common wood used to stock military muskets. The wood shop I went to didn't have plain walnut, but had plenty of highly figured burls. A piece large enough for a dirk handle was prohibitively expensive.

Ohh....the "Boxwood" that I used for the current handle is most likely a type of Laurel. It's good hard stuff, but a tad brittle as I unfortunately found out.

Thanks again everyone!

**MacBean** · 26th January 12, 12:22 PM

[QUOTE=Brasilikilt;1059033]Rowan....Yes, of course I would consider it, and would love to get my hands on some, but it's seemingly not available commercially as lumber. There is a nursery right around the corner, it might be worth it to ask them.....They still haven't called me about my Blackthorn (prunus spinosa) though.

Ohh....the "Boxwood" that I used for the current handle is most likely a type of Laurel. It's good hard stuff, but a tad brittle as I unfortunately found out.
[QUOTE]

Try looking for Sorbus (the Latin name for Mountain Ash or Rowan). It's not uncommon as an ornamental. You might be able to find some branches on the street in Portland. It's most obvious in spring when it has white paniculate flowers, or by the red berry clusters in fall. But even the leaves are distinctive. Google image it, I think you might find them in Portland.