Looking to tweak the sgian dubh

[ShaunMaxwell]

Drac:

How about something a bit less tapered, like this?

Is the challenge overcoming the weight of the the metal buttwork? If that's the case, what about eliminating the metal butt?

[Drac]

Is the challenge overcoming the weight of the the metal buttwork?

A little bit. The sgian is rear heavy, not by much but I have found that unlike me most people prefer a balanced knife. Learning all my skills in a kitchen I have differing views of knives. For slicing and chopping and slicing I like a forward weighted knife, French chef for instance. I let the weight of the knife do the cutting. On fine work like deboning and general task like package opening to be rear weighted. This gives a lot of tip control.

I will be removing the rear bolster in later, casual models. For dress I like the bolster and it gives a place for filework. It will always be a balance casual and dress like a lot of accessories.

On quality, I do use good steels. The first couple, like all my prototypes, were made from 440C. Good steel with decent edge retention. Now I will be moving on to my normal steels, ATS34 and CPM154 (when available). Both have much better edge retention and the CPM154 has a much higher strength. While I always want my knives to be used I also take a realalistic view that the average person is not going to go into a survival exercise with one of these blades. If they are and let me know I can use S30V which can hold it's own with most carbon steels. Amazing edge retention but you HAVE to use diamond or ceramic sharpeners or you will wear out your stone quickly and take a lot more work to sharpen it. I started using it on hunters so it would last in the field and be sharpened at home after hearing stories about using two knives to field dress, one was always being sharpened and traded out.

I will say I do have my own problems in that I always want to make the knives beautiful. Problem is even if you tell people that you are using a steel that requires diamond to sharpen and the handle is stabilized so that it is as strong as any synthetic material that is it looks nice it can't be usable.

I did this knife a few years ago for a commission.



The blade is Damasteel and the handle is stabilized whale jaw bone. The steel is as strong as CPM154, about a 61r. A strong steel for stainless. The bone is the densest in the work and stabilized to minimize shrinkage and staining. It, overall, is one tough knife but the owner isn't allowed to use it. It is kept in a safe and only brought out to show off.

That's not a knife, its sculpture.

Jim

[ShaunMaxwell]

Drac:

Please don't think I was questioning the quality of your materials. Having seen other samples of your work, I felt sure that someone capable of producing the knives you make would use only the best available materials.

I think you and I have had a conversation before about utility vs. decorative. I'm all about utility, but like you, I don't believe that just because a knife is beautiful doesn't mean that it shouldn't be used! (Okay, with exceptions like the stunner you just posted...HA!).

Here's another tweak that (I hope) goes to Ryan Ross' suggestion about eliminating the shoulder near the but of the handle.

Let me know if this is at all helpful. I'd be happy to help out with additional tweaks to sketches.

SM

[CMcG]

I think there is lots of room to tweak the design of a sgian and still keep its essence recognizable. The use of a full tang is brilliant to me because it makes the knife more sturdy but not too many other makers are doing it. A little Google image searching has brought some interesting ideas (though not all are full tang), which I'll throw out for discussion:

Crandart knives


By Rob Millar


By Daniel Fronefield


A "contemporary" sgian sold by various retailers:


By Omega Artworks:


By Stockwell knives:

[Drac]

By Daniel Fronefield

BTW did you guys notice the blade is metorite?

Jim

[artificer]

BTW did you guys notice the blade is metorite?

Jim

I did! The distinctive crystalline Widmanstätten pattern is fantastic, and a bit of a giveaway.

[Ryan Ross]

Here's another tweak that (I hope) goes to Ryan Ross' suggestion about eliminating the shoulder near the but of the handle.

Ooops.

I meant that I was a fan of the slight shoulder near the butt. I think it helps keep the knife in the hand.

Sorry about that.

[ShaunMaxwell]

Ryan:

I'm gonna learn to read one of these days...

SM

[Drac]

I like the Millar and contemporary designs.

SM, no problems here. I got to remember to get off the soap box

Here are some handle materials for tweaking as well. Now all but one of these will be dress. Sorry guys, not really utility. All of these are just a quick sand and buff. Even a scanner can't some of the effects in the ironwood. The outside two pieces are sanded and buffed. All the gemstones are reconstituted.

Here are Scott's materials. Hopefully I will be able to do the sheath -



Some malachite to go with a damascus blade. Again hopefully with a sheath -



Some jade and purple (they call it charoite but it doesn't look a thing like it) -



And for the casual lovers, some sambar stag, the real stuff. This one will go on one without the rear bolsters -



Jim

[artificer]

Even a scanner can't some of the effects in the ironwood.
Here are Scott's materials. Hopefully I will be able to do the sheath -


...

Jim

MAN, I am drooling already (and it's not the broccoli in spicy black bean sauce that I'm cooking right now either) !

That is beautiful stuff, and I'm dying to see what you do with it.

SLIGHTLY O/T, but still knife related; so what type of knives DO you use in your kitchen, Jim? I prefer Wustof Classic myself