double edged?

[nagod]

ive noticed a fair amount of people use a small double edged dagger as a sgian dubh. is there historical reason for this?older ones ive seen were single edged.

[Bugbear]

Hmmmm, I seem to remember that the STM was selling them for a time, and they were called sleeve daggers or something like that.

I don't think that is the traditional form of the knife blade.

[auld argonian]

I'm sure that the resident historians will have some of the dope on this but when you look at the traditional design, you'll see the notches on the back of the blade near the handle...I have to assume that the idea is that you're putting your thumb on the back of the blade to get more leverage when you cut and the notches are there to provide a non-slip place for the thumb. The variation on this happens in the kitchen where I was taught to hold a knife with my index finger along the back of the blade in certain circumstances to guide it more carefully.

There's no shortage of cutlery fans on the forum and I'm sure that someone will point out that there are technical knifey-speak words for such things as "back of the blade" and "notch"...I know that I've heard them somewhere before but I just can't think of them right now and thought that I'd just posit the simple explanation.

I would also point out, at the risk of stepping in it vis a vis the rules, that double edged can often be illegal in some municipalities...Chicago being one of them.

Best

AA

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Certainly post-1800 virtually all sgians dubh can be said to be single edged-- I personally have never seen or handled a pre-1800 sgian dubh that was double edged; this doesn't mean that they didn't exist, just that it seems none have survived the ensuing two centuries. Given that the sgian dubh was a small utility knife primarily used for skinning small and medium sized game, it is doubtful that any of them were double edged. As anyone who has skinned game can tell you, a single edged blade is the proper tool for the job.

Concerning the "notches" on the back of the blade (properly called "jimping") their purpose is more decorative than functional, having replaced the traditional dot-in-circle designs that were common on Scottish blades in the 16-18th century.

[Drac]

From what I understand of the history of a sgian dubh is that it was used for hunting much the same way the scandies in Scandinavia. I would not see any practical purposes for a double edge knife for field use.

When using a knife for skinning and capping a small, easily maneuvered knife is normally what is preferred. I am not sure but the notches I would guess they are decorative as they would be a pain to clean out after processing an animal. They fall into what custom makers call file work -



Here is an interesting page from a collection of one of our knife maker's forum's local historian.



Jim