Quote Originally Posted by Dall_Piobaire View Post
A couple questions. The Sgain used to be up to an inch or so longer if I am not mistaken, thus making the orignal sgain still a weapon. I also thought the tradition was to openly show that you carried one as a matter of trust. When they were more concealed, one was supposed to leave it at the door of their guests home.
Blades on sgians dubh are genreally between 3 and 4-inches in length, with the average being about 3.25/3.5 inches. Some knives are encountered with slightly longer blades -- remember, there was no "Board of Standards" dictating what were originally knives made by the local blacksmith.

Remember too, that the categorizing of Scottish edged weapons is largely a late 19th & early 20th century phenomenon, and rarely (especially in the early days) was the description based on anything other than the single opinion of the person describing the tool in question. Thus, while it was easy to categorize a knife with a short blade as a "sgian dubh" it was much harder to pigeon-hole a knife with a blade of, say, 4.25 inches. Frankly, since there was no one around to challenge the opinion, a knife of that size could have been a kitchen knife as easily as a skinning knife.

Those of us who seriously collect "armes blanche" are acutely aware of the fact that 90% of what we believe to be factual is quite often mere conjecture. To the best of my knowledge no one has left us an original, 16th century manual entitled "The Sgian Dubh: How to Use It, and How to Carry It." We base almost all of our assumptions on drawings and paintings to show us how things were really done. Other assumptions are based on solid fact.

(If you are squeamish, you may wish to jump to the next paragraph.) We know that in Scotland deer were not butchered in the field. Once brought down, the belly of the deer was opened and the entrails dumped on the ground and "left to the eagles". This reduced the weight of the carcass by as much as a third. The carcass was then shouldered, or put on a pony, and taken back to the cottage, house, or castle, where it was skinned and butchered to be eaten. Now because deer weren't butchered in the field, a stalker only needed to carry a small knife-- the ubiquitous sgian dubh.

Sir Walter Scott (and his ilk) created numerous myths to heighten the narrative adventure of their novels-- knives hidden in arm pits, or worn in the stocking to show a lack of treacherous intent, are only two examples that have, with the passing of time and the re-telling of tales, come to be regarded as as facts, rather than recognized as the myths they really are.

So, was the sgian dubh a weapon? NO.

Was it worn in the stocking to show peaceful intent? NO.

It was a hunter's tool, thrust into the top of the stocking as a matter of convenience, nothing more.