Home made Targe, Dirk, Sgian Dubh and Sgian Achlais

[Guinness>water]

Hey all,
over the last couple years I've become very interested in all things Jacobite(specifically the 45). After pricing all of the things I would like to have I found out I wasnt having any of it unless I won the Lotto or made it myself. Due to the unlikelyness of the first option I figured "what the heck, Highlanders made a lot of this stuff with little resources, I bet I can do it too". So I got to it, learned how to harden a blade, temper it and even got a little crazy with decorations.

You'll notice the heart theme. When I was in the Army(101st Airborne, 502nd Infantry), our regiments symbol was a black heart. We wore a patch on our helments and painted it on our HMMWVs. I have seen a lot of "Jacobite era" stuff with hearts on it so it seemed destined.

On to the pictures........

First, is my Dirk.





End cap made of brass. Hard to see but its a heart.




Next is the Sgian Dubh. Nothing reall spectacular about it but figured I'd show it.




I'm really interested in the Sgian Achlais. I have seen several on the internet and just had to have one.



Should have mentioned that all of these knives are full tang. I think I may have made the first full tang Dirk! I have never seen another, any way.
I bought the steel at Home Depot, it was about two inches wide and fairly thick. Seemes to be fairly high carbon steel as it will hold a good edge after hardening. I drew the shape onto the blank steel and then cut it out with an angle grinder. Hardened it, tempered it and then sharpened. A lot of work but also a lot of fun.

More to come..........