Square one for DIY sgian dubh.

[AKScott]

I like the look of that blade. What's it made of?

The blade I could find local to me, cash and carry, about the right size for a sgian is made by Brusletto of Norway, 10cm blade, labeled "Laminert knivstal".

I think that means laminated knife steel:
http://www.brusletto.no/index.php?sp...D=424&ledd1=38

It was US$18.55 out the door. A suitabe price point for a blade while learning to make knives I think.

[Tartan Hiker]

That is an excellent blade indeed, and the price seems very reasonable. It should be a dandy

[AKScott]

It should be a dandy

Thanks, I got another one. Ruminating on all the old DIY sgian threads I did open I am seeing folks getting the best results using material and tools with which they are already familiar. So I bought another blade just like the first one and got to work.

First order of business, I want my sgian to fit my hand.




The first tinme I took off way too much material and started on a second scrap of red oak I had laying around...

Background is the first handle with too much material removed and new blade trimmed to as deep as I can reach with a drill bit. Foreground is handle prototype #2 with just layout marks on it.



Instead of using some other method, what I am good at is using a drill a bit like a plunging router, so I did that. With two sets of layout marks 90 degrees apart I just blind drilled the two edges of the slot described by the marks, drilled the middle and ten cleaned up the inside durfaces. Red oak endgrain is pushing the limit of my comfort zone, but it fit the first time and not a lot of slop in it.



I have the blade soaking in degreaser now (carb cleaner), after that I'll clean the degreaser with gun cleaning solvent, rough sand the tang to improve epoxy adhesion, gun cleaning solvent one last time and then epoxy the blade to the handle.

I am planning to epoxy pin the tang. I will layout the pins, drill from the side that is going to show and epoxy the pins in, after the main epoxy load has the blade locked in. One problem with my first knife was trying to mark the tang for pinning while it was flopping around in the slot.

Expected steps are:

Finish degreasing blade
Epoxy blade and handle together.
Layout and drill pin holes after epoxy cures
Rough shape handle, leaving a block at hilt
Epoxy pins in place
Wet mold sheath
Finish shaping handle


I am afraid if I shape the hilt end of the handle before I mold the leather the sheath may end up too tight.

I also suspect my handle is going to be too big for kilt hose, but I bet my second wetmolded sheath will come out better than the first, so I'll call that a wash.