What exactly is a mattucashlass?

[Jock Scot]

I am not a scholar in this area, but I've carried knives for 65 years or more. In my working life it was not unusual for me to have four or more on me,
depending on the project and my various functions therein. As I have seen the term gralloching knife, it has usually applied to deer hunting, and having
never field dressed a deer, am unfamiliar with the size. As it was not legal (in my understanding) for the average guy to take a deer, he'd not need such.
He would, however, want a small blade to scale and gut fish and/or rabbits and other small game. Thus the sgian dhu. Maybe? I certainly would
never have thought of using something the size of a dirk or sgian achlais for fish; my pocket knife, or my mother's paring knives if I brought the string
back home before cleaning.

If you would like to PM me your email address I will send you a picture of my gralloching knife. I would post it here but rule 11 would be broken. Gralloching knives are not large and not a particularly special design, with a strong but sharp edged 2.5 to 4 inch blade and a heavy duty full tang, usually without a particularly pointed point. But like many things in life they vary in design and size and its down to personal choice more than anything else.