A different sytle of sgain dubh?

[Geoff Withnell]

Matt,
Does the biodag come with a sheath?

Our "biodag" knives made by Bullman Studios are all full tang, and make exellent sgians. I have one he made for me from Ebony that I wear nearly every day.

The photos I have up on our site now really don't do them justice. He's been making a lot with mixed woods lately and that is not refelcted on our site. Some of his nicer mosiac pieces I think would be excellent for formal wear.

No one who has purchased one from our shop yet has ever said anything about the full tang.

http://giftshop.scottishtartans.org/biodag.htm

[Drac]

Ok, was browsing for some materials for future knives while it's a bit cool for working in the garage when I came a cross a site with some fossil ivory pieces.

While I would love to use some walrus it can't be shipped out of the US. They also had some elephant that is pre-ban but I also not to found of materials that were gathered while wasting the rest of the animal. Granted he's been dead for a while but still.

A couple ones that did catch my attention were fossil corral -



Some mammoth tooth -



And some wlarus oosic (please look it up, the description would get me banned) -



While we were talking about sgain dubhs that are different how different would you go? Granted disgusting though it maybe oosic would make a great conversation piece.

Jim

[sydnie7]

The coral's a bit busy for my tastes but the mammoth tooth is fascinating! As for the walrus unmentionable, well, whatever floats yer boat (or "flips yer skirt") as the saying goes.

[Drac]

walrus unmentionable

I like the phrase though when I read it to my wife she suddenly had pictures in her head of walruses wearing lace camisole and frilly tap pants.

Excuse me while I go run a inventory of the liqueur cabinet.

Jim

[Stiavo89]

Here's one of mine that has a tapered tang to get the idea -



Thanks for the opinions.

Keep them coming,
Jim

Jim, that is a beautiful piece of workmanship - one anybody would (should?) be proud to wear and use! Do you make your own sheaths too?

Steve

[Drac]

Thanks. No I don't I outsource to a gentleman who been doing them for about 60 years. I like most knife makers have tried my hand at leather working. Like most I noticed since I spent most of my time on knife making I didn't develop as good of skills with leather. To get better skills at leather working I would have to spend more time on it than knife. So most knife makers are only so-so, not all but most.

Not me. Unlike most knife makers I suck at leather working. I gave up on trying to even make passable sheaths awhile ago and traded my leather supplies for a sporran.

Jim

[Micric]

I think other considerations would come into play, rather than accepting or rejecting on the full tang basis. (Aesthetics, etc)

I have been thinking of making a sgian dubh for a while now, and have this idea of making it fit for both worlds, so to speak!
Don't know if such an animal is possible, but I'll let you know how it goes!!
This thread is a fresh inspiration to get at it,...before spring farm work gets under way!

[CMcG]

<snip>
Would you guys buy a sgain dubh with a full tang or would you pass it by?

<snip>
My own knife making philosophy is that if it doesn't cut anything it's not a knife. A well built knife can look good or even beautiful.

I would definitely prefer a sgian with a full tang and I agree that knives should be able to cut; if there's no edge, it's a letter opener! With the right materials, fancy bolsters, decorative file-work, etc a full tang sgian could surely be suitable for evening wear. Drac, do you have a website?

My compromise was to find a sgian with a full length tang, even though it isn't full width. Better than a blunt edge, plastic handle, sgian with a half-length, half-width tang

Here's mine, made by Hanwei. The purple cut glass is gaudy but it matches the purple stone on my dad's old kilt pin:

[CMcG]

I did some Googling and found a few full tang sgians by knife maker Stuart Mitchell. They are solid looking knives but not really very dressy...



With a matching dirk:



Under the name of his father, Pat Mitchell. I think this one needs some jimping.

[CMcG]

Here's another full tang from PPS knives:


And one from Brian Lyttle: