Sgian Dubh, Scottish 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”.
I have made the primary outer handle of this Sgian Dubh from some beautiful figured Scottish Burr Wych Elm. I harvested the burr that i used for this particular knife from a tree just outside Forres, half an hour East of Inverness and have been waiting for it to dry for a few years now. One of my favourite Scottish hardwoods, colour is mid browns, tones of cream and yellow, occasional streaks of green with a golden iridescence and an incredible burr grain pattern.
For a professional finish i have used some local Wild Cherry (Gean) as a centre to lock the knife tang and the outer scales together. This piece came from a tree that grew on the Black Isle, just North of Inverness. Like most Cherrys, Wild Cherry is a lovely wood. It has a complex grain pattern, is orangy brown with streaks of green and a golden iridescence. I used this wood in some of my early knives and loved it so have been waiting very patiently for this piece to dry for the last couple of years. These two beautiful Scottish Hardwoods go perfectly together.
To finish and protect the wood I first apply a sealer of Shellac and Cellulose Thinners. This brings out the colour and provides and stable base for the next finish. I then apply two types of industrial wax that leaves a hard wearing satin sheen. 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 27mm x Depth 12.5mm
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.