Sgian Dubh in Scottish Oak and Bog Oak, kilt knife, 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”.
The primary handle section of this Sgian Dubh is made from some local Oak. Being a self-confessed wood snob, i don’t often use Oak on my knives as i feel it is sometimes just a little plain. I was up in Ullapool the other day visiting my wood guru, Robert the Spruce when he produced this lump of Oak. He informed me that it was from a 800 year old tree that grew in a Highland Estate just North of Inverness. It was toppled in a huge storm some 5-6 years ago and had been slowly drying in his store. It blows my mind to think that this tree was established in the late Middle Ages when both William Wallace and Robert the Bruce where doing their thing. It has been sawn on the quarter axis revealing its beautiful and interesting grain. Its colour is mid golden browns with streaks of darker brown.
I have combined the Oak with some very special local 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. It makes for the perfect companion alongside the fresh Oak.
For a professional finish i have used some African Blackwood as a centre to lock the knife tang and scales together. All the Blackwood i use is FSC 100% and comes from community-managed forests in Tanzania, 100% of the revenue from wood sales goes back to the local people involved. This true Rosewood has a beautiful grain, jet black streaks intertwined with dark iridescent brown. It also has a high natural oil content that makes it very resistant to moisture. African Blackwood is a very traditional wood to be used in the making of Sgian Dubhs fitting the bill perfectly for a “Black Knife”. The wood is extremely hard and finishes to a high lustre.
To finish and protect the wood I first apply a sealer of Shellac and Cellulose Thinners. For this knife i actually have to give it 3 coats of Shellac to fully seal the wood otherwise the oils in the Blackwood stop the lacquer from curing. This brings out the colour and provides a stable base for the next finish. I then hand brush 3 coats of a tough polyurethane lacquer. From my experience this is the hardest wearing finish available for wood.
The blade is Stainless Steel and measures under 3.5″ to comply with UK knife laws.
It comes complete with an attractive embossed black leather sheath and a black presentation box.
The Sgian Dubh measures:
Overall Length 175mm x Width 28mm x Depth of 12.4mm
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.