I certainly don't want to change the course of this thread (I love the craftsmanship shown), but I wonder at the Bloke's rationale for not wearing a traditional sgian dubh. I think I understand his desire to live by his belief that all edged weapons should be banned in urban England, but I wonder at a universal UK ban that includes those parts of these isles where the carrying of such weapons of destruction is traditional -- and peaceful.

I'm a rural Scot and don't feel any pressure to be rid of the sgian as my "pocket knife" from those with whom I live. I live in Western Canada too, where both the sgian dubh and the Buck are often seen. I don't think anybody feels threatened by either in either place.

Perhaps this is not the right place to discuss this (MODS move it or delete it as you see fit), but I wonder how my fellow Scots and Canucks in this forum feel. And I wonder, too, if there is a difference between how one feels living in an urban or in a rural environment, and in societies where one feels threatened by someone who wears -- in his hose -- what could be a weapon, whether that is a piece of sharpened wood or bone or horn or steel.

Just puzzled and questioning, that's all.