Sgian Dubh - Sgian Don't - Sgian Dongle

[Chas]

There are those of us that wear a sgian dubh and those who do not; those who wish to look authentic or traditional but would choose a less lethal form of sgian. For them and the air transport industry there is the safety sgian dubh, often called the sgian don't. Taken one step further is the sgian brew, a clever and witty way of having a necessary drinking tool to hand without filling up valuable sporran space.

I had it in mind to make a sgian comb. I remember from my youth aluminium combs that had a rats' tail handle. Rather like this, but metal and shiny:



I thought that the rat's tail could be anchored in a handle and the tines could be tapered to a point. Still a comb, but with a fancy handle. I discovered that the last comb like this was made in 1970 or there about and they were not to be had.

Back to the drawing board.

Then the thought struck me - this is the 21st century; we are living next door to the information superhighway. I would make a sgian dongle. (Actually it should be a sgian memory stick, but that doesn't look as good in the thread title.)

I had a brand new 2 gig memory stick, a lath of pine, some wood glue, a headless screw, tools, some wood stain and some cairngorms.

All the small images are clickable.

From an existing sgian dubh, I made a template of the handle.



The lath was cut in two and marked out.



A slot cut in each to receive the memory stick.



The two halves were glued together.

Using the template, I cut away everything that didn't look like the original handle.



More to come

[Chas]

The handle was then stained and a headless screw fitted.



A cairngorm glued on to hide the headless screw and then another on the pommel for balance.



And then another two for a bit of bling.





And there we have it. Not the highest standard of woodworking (not even a low standard) but all it took was a couple of afternoons.

It's first outing will be at the Romney Folk Fest where I am hoping to hear "Oh, we have so much data to back up. If only there was a way to do it..."

Regards

Chas (who is still looking for an aluminium comb)

[shanetown]

That is bloody clever. Well done...

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Chas, I've actually seen metal combs like that at the petstore...might be worth a look.

--Chelsea McMurdo--

[vorpallemur]

Chas, I've actually seen metal combs like that at the petstore...might be worth a look.

--Chelsea McMurdo--

It's called a "teasing comb" (or a rat tail comb, depends on how polite you are). The rat tail is used to tease hair up. You can certainly get them online; if you want to buy locally, you'll need to find a place that caters to the audience of people who have hair that they tease up.

[Midsmed]

Nice done.Looks god!

[Rex_Tremende]

Amazon lists several in different styles.

Regards,
Rex.

[sydnie7]

Amazon lists several in different styles.

Regards,
Rex.

What I find a bit scary is clicking on the "all products by this vendor" link. They are offering a combo purchase of hair-cutting shears and a margarita blender. Doesn't sound to me like a match made in heaven. . .

[/threadjack]

[Rex_Tremende]

Aw, c'mon, what could be more fun than a hair-cutting party fueled by delicious margaritas?

Just try to be the first one in line and not the last.

R.

[unaspenser]

What an ingenious idea, and a great looking sgain dongle (gosh that's fun to say!). Keep up the good work!