Dixie Gun Works

**Joe Gondek** · 30th August 07, 06:02 PM

My sgain dubh is carried to be used and I use it just as much as I do my pocket knike when I'm wearing pants.
It opens packages,cuts an apple or a string and I don't have to reach into a sporran to get it nor do I need to open or close it as I would a folding knife

**ChromeScholar** · 30th August 07, 07:57 PM

I have cheap sgian dubh, but it is sharp. I can use it if I need to.

If you go into the cutlery section, under knife building parts, there is this: KE5701 Ripper Blade. It's a knife blank they describe as the American version of the sgian dubh. I think it has potential, and it's only $9.75.

And their Scottish dirk got slightly better reviews.

**ChromeScholar** · 30th August 07, 08:15 PM

Just noticed their handle material, all sorts of fancy wood, bone, horn (including buffalo horn). I think I'm going to be making an order this pay day, or next.

**PiobBear** · 30th August 07, 09:35 PM

The first sgian dubh I made was from a Dixie Gun Works blade. Don't know if they still offer them. If not, Atlanta Cutlery carries them. Yes; DGW has all sorts of material for knifemaking, among other things. One of my sporrans uses antler buttons from DGW, for example.
Now, if only they offered a proper Lochaber axe blade...

**James MacMillan** · 31st August 07, 11:03 AM

OK - This is probably going to get me flamed, but if you are going to carry a weapon, and the Sgian Dubh qualifies, shouldn't it be something that you can use.

My personal Sgian I made myself, it looks OK. But more important, to me, it has a very usable, sharp blade. Wearing a Safety Do or whatever seems sort-of silly to me. Of course I do like the Cork screw and pottle opener sgians for the appropriate times. I plan on making a bottle opener sgian don't for a Panama cruise in October, as I don't want my favorite sgian confiscated.

**Woodsheal** · 31st August 07, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by PiobBear

Now, if only they offered a proper Lochaber axe blade...

Lochaber blades available here:

http://www.themadpiper.com/lochs.htm

**PiobBear** · 31st August 07, 10:11 PM

This is probably going to get me flamed, but if you are going to carry a weapon, and the Sgian Dubh qualifies, shouldn't it be something that you can use.

Not a flame, but IMO a sgian dubh's a tool, not a weapon, rather like a utilitarian pocket knife. As such it does need a live blade to be of any use.

I've always been skeptical of the idea that the sgian dubh was derived from some sort of weapon. That would imply that in a country that developed the four-foot-long claidheamh mòr (claymore) and the Lochaber axe, during a time of reivers, highwaymen, intergenerational clan rivalries and blood feuds when people went armed with broadsword and dirk everywhere (inlcuding to church), people expected to defend themselves with something akin to a paring knife.

**Captain** · 1st September 07, 06:58 AM

Originally Posted by PiobBear

Not a flame, but IMO a sgian dubh's a tool, not a weapon, rather like a utilitarian pocket knife. As such it does need a live blade to be of any use.

I've always been skeptical of the idea that the sgian dubh was derived from some sort of weapon. That would imply that in a country that developed the four-foot-long claidheamh mòr (claymore) and the Lochaber axe, during a time of reivers, highwaymen, intergenerational clan rivalries and blood feuds when people went armed with broadsword and dirk everywhere (inlcuding to church), people expected to defend themselves with something akin to a paring knife.

I'm guessing (and I could be way off here), that it could have been both a utility knife (it's main use) and a weapon (it's function only if necessary). I'm not saying it's their main way to defend themselves, but most police officers or licensed handgun carriers today carry a back up gun that's usually smaller and of a smaller caliber than their main weapon (and alot of them carry them in a similar spot - an ankle holster). The Sgian Dubh would certainly make a decent last-ditch, desperation back up weapon.

One might make the argument that I'm applying modern thinking to an ancient item... but I say if you got a knife in your sock/boot and everything else has been taken away from you, you probably don't think to yourself, "I could defend myself with that, but I only use that to cut rope and tree branches."

Anyway, sorry if this gets the thread closed, but I did mention what I did in context of a sgian dubh!

**ccga3359** · 1st September 07, 07:37 AM

I'll agree with Captain that the sgian dubh was a "back up" in days long ago but let's not go there, especially with today's parallel. A knife of this size today should be carried as PiobBear points out, as a tool. Please allow me to clarify this as I earlier I called it ceremonial. It can indeed have a purpose and an edge. But lets not carry it for it's original intended purpose, after all about the only rampaging Englishman you'd find today would be me! And I'm wearing a kilt now.