Damascus, Bayleen, Ivory Sgian Dubh Build

[O'Neille]

I've been waiting for my damascus steel from the Arab Emirates. That is a story in itself. I also had them make me some Sgian Dubh blades to my specifications.

I decided to use some old walrus ivory, bayleen, and one of my new blades



This is the blade and handle materials I decided to use


Sliced off a piece of Ivory---It smells like you're getting a tooth drilled.



Then I drilled out the handle to accep the tang and did some file work



The fit was acceptable so I went ahead and cut some bayleen for the caps

continued:

[O'Neille]

Here is the handle and caps before shaping



Added a back fillet from ivory scrap and shaped the whole thing to my liking



Did a dry fit



A little epoxy and it was done





Made a quick sheath for it to rest in





Now I've got a new sgian dubh for the Christmas season. I left the handle natural on purpose. I just used a bit of neutral wax to bring out the shine of the bayleen. I can hardly wait to wear it next Tuesday to the Scottish (sic)Christmas Concert. O'Neille

[neo71665]

That looks great, you people never cease to impress me with your handy work on here.

[Blu (Ontario)]

A nice photo series.

In photo #4, you drilled a series of parallel holes for the tang. I was wondering if a mortising cutter might be a bit easier - I think I've seen them as small as 3/16".

Also I'd be interested to know the story behind the blades... very nice by the way.

Nice work!

.

[Panache]

O'Neille,

That is just beautiful! Like everything else you do, it's quality work.

Cheers

[O'Neille]

In photo #4, you drilled a series of parallel holes for the tang. I was wondering if a mortising cutter might be a bit easier - I think I've seen them as small as 3/16".

Also I'd be interested to know the story behind the blades...
.

I don't have a lot of wood working tools mostly metal working stuff. I used the drill press because I could remove a lot of material and then finish with a file. The consitency of walrus ivory is closer to brittle metal than wood anyday.

The blades came into existence because I found a guy who could make beautiful Damascus blades and bar stock. We exchanged ideas for a few weeks and finally I was happy with the final design. He went ahead and made up a test batch. It was a lot of work due to the language barrier we had, but the final product turned out wonderful. I ended up with 3 that are fine grained (folded more times) and 4 that are larger grained which I like because of the patterns involved. Getting payment to him and the shipment to me was a lot more work than either designing the blades or making the knives. It should go smoother now that we've worked out the logistics of international manufacturing. The blades traveled the world and ended up in Minnesota before they were forewarded to me. Some problem with a foreign computer keyboard and a little transposition of some numbers.

[Kiltman]

Don't work with metals, but I do appreciate your craftsmanship.

[cgrinder]

Those were very nice. Great work

[beerbecue]

Very nice indeed....

So much nice work done here... too bad these finished items are way, way, way out of my affordability range....

I am more than a little envious......

[David Dalglish]

Great Skian Dhu O'Neille, your work is really good. Well done