Natural Sgian Dubh, Scottish knife, skene dubh, Scottish gift, wedding gift,
groom gift, best man gift, mens gift

The Sgian Dubh is a ceremonial dagger that is traditionally worn (tucked into
the sock) as part of Scottish Highland dress along with a kilt. The translation
in Gaelic is knife or dagger for "Sgian" and black for "Dubh".
This knife is part of my well established range of Natural Antler Sgian Dubhs.
The antler came from a stag that roamed the hills above Lairg, Sutherland. This
is an extremely rugged part of Scotland and I'm sure it makes the Stags and
their antlers extra tough! Antler is one of these materials that is a joy to
work, approximately the working hardness of Oak, it responds well to careful
working with both machine and hand tools. My wood Sgian Dubhs tend to be very
exacting in their shape where as antler, due to its flowing curves can offer a
more natural handle which is exactly what has been achieved in this knife. I
have done as little finishing on the antler handle as possible to keep the
natural look but, enough sanding to remove any harsh edges or lines and make
the knife ergonomic to hold and comfortable being worn. Colour-wise, Antler
tends to be predominately creamy white, sometimes with tones of pinkish brown
and even some green.
I have capped this antler handle with some Scottish Bog Oak. I have been very
aware of this materials existence for some time now but have been waiting to
secure the right piece. This particular piece came from Muir of Clunes, 12
miles South West of Inverness. This is quite a rural, verdant and quite thickly
wooded part of Scotland. My contact for this wood excavated quite a few pieces
and had a very small section scientifically aged, it came back at approximately
5000 years old! To put this into context, this is when, slightly further down
the road, Stonehenge was starting to be assembled. Bog Oak is created when the
tree is buried in a peat bog and the wood is preserved by the acidic
conditions. The wood is stained dark brown to black by the tannins in the
acidic water. There is a fair amount of wastage of the wood until you get
deeper into the piece. In its raw state it smells like a mix of rubber and
organic material, not in any way rotten or decomposed. Working the wood is
somewhat challenging, quite splintery very much like Snakewood or Ebony and is
number 80 in my list of worked Hardwoods. Finished, the wood is at least as
hard as fresh Oak and finishes to a fine lustre. Colour is predominately black
with dark brown that has a deep iridescence and looks almost identical to
Indian Ebony. As far as the ultimate Scottish Sgian Dubh wood (black wood),
this is pretty much it although it does have the monopoly on colour as no other
Scottish wood is quite so dark. I sculpt the wood until in joins perfectly and
seamlessly with the antler and again smooth off any sharp edges.
For a professional finish i have used some local Ash as a centre to lock the
knife tang and the outer scales together. This piece came from a tree that grew
on the banks of Loch Ness, 12 miles South West of Inverness. Ash is a very
traditional wood in Scottish woodcraft and can be used for many applications
from furniture to bow making. Globally it is having a hard time just now with
many trees dying from the fungal disease Ash dieback causing the price of the
wood to rise rapidly. Thankfully the trees are doing well in Scotland. Colour
is predominately golden browns and cream with a golden iridescence. This
beautiful Scottish Hardwood contrasts nicely with the Antler and Bog Oak.
To finish and protect the handle I could not use polyurethane varnish as this
would turn the antler yellow. So in this case i first apply a sealer of Shellac
and Cellulose Thinners only to the wood centre, this brings out the colour.
Then i apply two types of industrial wax, the same as used on my antler kilt
pins. This gives a hard wearing finish and an attractive sheen not dissimilar
to a polyurethane finish. The blade is Stainless Steel and measures under 3.5"
to comply with UK knife laws. I have left the blade unsharpened as Sgian Dubhs
are mostly ornamental. It comes complete with an attractive embossed black
leather sheath and a black presentation box.
The Sgian Dubh measures:
Overall Length 174mm x Width 28mm x a max Depth of 22mm
Blade Length 85mm x Width 25mm
As with all my pieces i have applied my company logo "UBC" with pyrography, in
this case on the bottom rear of the handle.