My new sgian dubh

[aonghas]

Just received my new sgian dubh made by Mr. Rab Gordon of Scotland




Also got the blade portion for a sgian brew to be handled with a deer antler

The blades of both are made of swedish damascus steel
The handle of the sgian dubh is made of bog oak.

[hunterblawthyhorn]

That is sweet. I sourced material from Rab that my father is using to make me a custom sgian dubh. They are great to deal with.

Pops is carving the handle now ..... can't wait for the results!

[Downunder Kilt]

Lovely looking bit of kit you have obtained there. Look forward to seeing pics of the sgian brew when finished. Rab Gordan certainly does fine work. Cheers

[mookien]

Wicked! Can't wait to see the finished sgian brew.

[Chas]

The Rab Gordon sgian has a timeless quality about it, as if it had been made hundreds of years ago.

Quite jealous!

[Laird_M]

Beautiul piece of work. Love the patterning on the dubh blade.

[CMcG]

That's a classic! I wonder how the blade is affixed to the handle... is that round bit of metal on the butt a screw?

[hunterblawthyhorn]

The material I recieved from Rab for my father to use creating mine did not have a screw. He is going to have to drill a hole in the bog oak handle and the tang of the blade will be pushed inside. Challenge will be to have a narrow hole so the tension with the tang will hold the blade in place. He will probably use some sort of adheseive as well just as a precation. We are going with a different hilt on our project and that will need to be hand fitted in place as well so that it stays.

There is a reason that Rab charges what he does ... it is difficult work with the carving of the handle and then fitting everything for assembly.

[MNlad]

Beautiful Damascus blade. Wear it proudly.

What I found works well for those tang blades is two small holes drilled parallel with the flat of the handle on the drill press and then hogging out between them with a needle file or thin jigsaw blade. Good luck.

[aonghas]

The pin at the end of the sgian dubh is sterling silver not a screw cap. The tang is very much like the sgian brew. I have yet to decide the shape and style of the handle for the sgian brew.
So far I think that I will drill a centre hole same size as the width of the tang and use a slimmed down jig saw blade to slightly widen the hole to the shape of the tang, to produce a tight fit.
Then I will add epoxy to hopefully fill and secure the extra space in the handle.
I may add a series of turquoise beads along the exposed side of the handle, no yet sure.