Firing Blanks? DIY Pistol Grip Sgians?

[Tomo]

Despite owning a couple of sgians from Comrie Crafts (love their stuff, simple and elegant) and an unusual carved stag horn sgian (my first purchase), I decided to have a bash at making a couple myself using some damascus blanks. Both pretty simple starters and some lessons learned - but suspect many more to come. I'm not entirely happy with these but think they are kind of OK:

#1 Boar-Tusk Sgian - actually this was the starting point, saw this tusk and thought it would work as a handle, I liked the way the curve molds itself around the top of my calf...
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#2 Stag Horn Sgian - just loved the patina on this piece of stag horn...
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Finally decided to have a crack at a dirk. Again it could be better, much better - but it was fun (and made a great "cake" knife, and talking point, at my wedding):

#3 Stag Horn Dirk:
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[GrainReaper]

Those look pretty nice! Who was your blade supplier?

[Tomo]

Highland Horn in Ross-Shire: http://www.highlandhorn.com

[MacKenzie]

Nice work!

[MrLion]

It is a pleasure to enjoy the skills of others through shared pictures. Thank you!

[Liam]

Well done!

[Dughlas mor]

Nice work. I like the Boar Tusk one the best.

[MacRob]

At one time I purchased some blades and red deer antler from Highland Horn but they have stopped shipping horn to the US so that ended that. It seems that the USDA is restricting imports of horn. Red deer is easily worked and looks great but it has a fairly large core which can make installing the horn tricky if you just use epoxy. Sambar stag is really great to use but since the embargo about 15 years ago it has become harder to find and a lot more expensive. Nice looking sgians.

[auteurusa]

The boar tusk Sgian is, in my opinion, unique. You did a fine job.