Firing Blanks? DIY Pistol Grip Sgians?

**Tomo** · 6th March 15, 02:16 AM

Despite owning a couple of sgians from Comrie Crafts (love their stuff, simple and elegant) and an unusual carved stag horn sgian (my first purchase), I decided to have a bash at making a couple myself using some damascus blanks. Both pretty simple starters and some lessons learned - but suspect many more to come. I'm not entirely happy with these but think they are kind of OK:

#1 Boar-Tusk Sgian - actually this was the starting point, saw this tusk and thought it would work as a handle, I liked the way the curve molds itself around the top of my calf...
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#2 Stag Horn Sgian - just loved the patina on this piece of stag horn...
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Finally decided to have a crack at a dirk. Again it could be better, much better - but it was fun (and made a great "cake" knife, and talking point, at my wedding):

#3 Stag Horn Dirk:
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**GrainReaper** · 6th March 15, 04:21 AM

Those look pretty nice! Who was your blade supplier?

**Tomo** · 6th March 15, 05:18 AM

Highland Horn in Ross-Shire: http://www.highlandhorn.com

**MacKenzie** · 6th March 15, 07:01 AM

Nice work!

**MrLion** · 6th March 15, 07:08 AM

It is a pleasure to enjoy the skills of others through shared pictures. Thank you!

**Liam** · 6th March 15, 07:51 AM

Well done!

**Dughlas mor** · 6th March 15, 08:15 AM

Nice work. I like the Boar Tusk one the best.

**MacRob** · 19th March 15, 06:12 AM

At one time I purchased some blades and red deer antler from Highland Horn but they have stopped shipping horn to the US so that ended that. It seems that the USDA is restricting imports of horn. Red deer is easily worked and looks great but it has a fairly large core which can make installing the horn tricky if you just use epoxy. Sambar stag is really great to use but since the embargo about 15 years ago it has become harder to find and a lot more expensive. Nice looking sgians.