Dirks are for Pipes & Drums

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I love it! Great idea! I never really need a knife.

The only time you will ever need a knife is when you don't have it.

[Howard Clark]

The only time you will ever need a knife is when you don't have it.

Well we certainly agree on that one.

I cannot imagine being without a knife. A blade under three inches is not a problem anywhere I know of in the US. I have been to several parts of our country where a man is just not completely dressed without a knife of some kind. It is a basic tool. Indeed one of the most basic. But of course my view is biased.

[The Barry]

As far as sgians dubh are concerned, wear the real thing, or nothing at all. Fake is fake, and gentlemen don't do fake.

Indeed! Well stated.

[fluter]

As far as sgians dubh are concerned, wear the real thing, or nothing at all. Fake is fake, and gentlemen don't do fake.

Gentlemen do, however, occasionally have a desire and longing to open a bottle of ale! Only when there's not a handy landlord with a keg, of course, but in my neighborhood that situation arises distressingly often. I'll be the guy in the corner drinking a Kaliber, in any case.

A phone dubh in the kilt hose might be useful. Sort of clan Maxwell Smart gimmick.

Your sock is ringing.

[Nighthawk]

I have a dirk that I wear for my living history group. It's the wrong period, but I'm working on fixing that. I wore my dirk for a friend's wedding at her request- she wanted to use it to cut the cake. The look on the face of the caterers son when my friend pulled it out of it's sheath was priceless...

[Kerr the Walker]

* throws away the DIY sgien don't being worked on *

Nah Ted, don't chuck it. Having a sgian don't in your hose top beats the heck outta trying to pry open a bottle with a lighter, a table-top or the like. Much more refined to pull a finely crafted tool from your hose and pop to the top.

A gentleman is prepared for the task at hand, and if you're more likely to have to open a bottle than slice something, then a sgian don't fills the square.

I personally feel funny leaving the house without a blade, but where I grew up not having one was like leaving the house without your shoes.

[Malcolm MacWilliam]

Well, since I mostly do military, I wear a dirk much of the time, but I'm careful about the venue.....for example, when I wore my kilt to the seminar that I'm teaching at a local college, I did NOT wear my dirk nor my side knife. I almost always wear a side knife. I have a sgian dubh, but it's a new item to me since I've only ever done 18th century before I found this forum last year (now you folks have me doing modern!!). I have three dirks. A formal one for evening (black, fancy), a Glenn McClain whingey, and a bolloch - not at all fancy. Also, I wear them mostly in the Jacobite way (not on my right side, but hanging behind my sporran). AHHHH, it's great to have big boy toys and wear them fashionably.

Malcolm MacWm., 42nd/77th Highland Reg'ts, Grenadiers
www.muskets-of-the-crown.org
ASM, British Brigade
www.britishbrigade.org

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Gentlemen do, however, occasionally have a desire and longing to open a bottle of ale!

That's why one has the OFFICER SGIAN DUBH by Gaelic Themes. Bottle opener, cork screw, and turn screw all neatly fold out from the handle.

[haxtonhouse]

All Tastemasters Present,

I've got a pal that insists on wearing a giant jeweled dirk anytime he wears the kilt, regardless of the occasion. Aside from being a violation of state law - it looks pretty silly. He might as well be wearing the highland pistols. Am I alone in thinking the dirks should be retired for anyone not in PIPES & DRUMS?

Also, what's a good source for a dummy sgian dubh? Everybody is so security crazy now.

Thanks ....

If you are in the U.S.A. then you have a Constitutional RIGHT to bear arms. it is only illegal ifit is concealed. I always carry a knife.

[KiltedHuntsman]

Fancy Dirks are for formal evening wear. That is tradition and I intend to uphold it. I have a real problem with the increasing infantilization of our lives. Are we somehow inferior, or less trustworthy, than our fathers and grandfathers? They could wear Dirks, have guns, conduct their financial affairs in private, etc., and nobody had a problem with it. Our society is turning into a giant day care center. Pretty soon we'll all be allowed to wear only jumpsuits, and have to report our movements to the authorities, and certify we've eaten our vegetables, and so forth. After all, IF IT SAVES JUST ONE LIFE, it's worth it. Right?

Bugger it. I refuse to be treated like a child.