Anyone else wishing for a custom sgian?

[Rab Gordon]

Hi,

That's a valid concern, but in practice they hold up very well. I embed the last part of the blade into the handle which adds considerable strength to what could be the weak point.
When I make my own blades I design them with tapering shoulders between blade and tang and taper the tang as well.
One advantage of a relatively small stick tang is that it helps keep the balance of the Sgian Dubh low down which keeps it steadier in the sock.

Rab

I can't say I'm all that impressed with the tiny tangs on the top two blades in that picture. The bottom blade has a relatively beefy tang with good rounded shoulders, though. I know that a sgian dubh will probably not be put under a lot of stress even if it's used for general day to day cutting chores but I'd still want mine to have something more substantial than a rat tail tang. Just my $0.02

[JRB]

Hi,

That's a valid concern, but in practice they hold up very well. I embed the last part of the blade into the handle which adds considerable strength to what could be the weak point.
When I make my own blades I design them with tapering shoulders between blade and tang and taper the tang as well.
One advantage of a relatively small stick tang is that it helps keep the balance of the Sgian Dubh low down which keeps it steadier in the sock.

Rab

Fair enough, Rab. My concerns stem from several blade failures under use that I (and friends of mine) have experienced when using knives with rat tail tangs. However, I can definitely see where embedding a bit of the wide blade into the grip would generally take care of the tang/blade weakness.

[Archangel]

Just want to point out that the "rat tail" tang has a long and valid history. History also shows that it has two main flaws which a good knife maker will deal with by tempering and radiussing.

It is typical for the skean dhu.

I would also point out that Musashi preferred the wooden blade because a particular sword technique would break the more substantial tang of the Japanese sword. It depends on application as well. The skean dhu is not meant to be a primary knife.

[Archangel]

I see that Cold Steel is coming out with yet another variation of the Skean Dhu. This is called the Scottish Spike and, nope, they still don't make a sheath that will be comfortable tucked into a sock. Not sure I like this blade design either.

So, add a nice sheath to our wish list.