A Tale of Two Knives: Sgian Dubh Twins 

Sitting here with my second 3550 in almost 20 years... Mel sure made good working knives.

Toki52 - Exactly what I thought 👍

Hand sanding sucks.

alright thanks for the advice

French, he also has a facebook page that I got a response. If you go to his website, there may be a contact link. Either way, lemon juice? How many times did you etch it? I use lemon juice and then hand buff with Mothers Aluminum and mag wheel polish. I've gone from 5 to 20 etch's per blade to bing out the hamon. Depends on assorted factors. You said you quenched in oil first. Usually, it's water first and then oil.

Bloody hell mate. That's nothing like a Sgian Dubh. It makes my blood boil to watch this. If want traditional order it from a Scottish maker and get a proper shape and size - not this crap. It'll be cheaper too! What an embarrassment of a knife. And yes I'm Scottish and live in Scotland and have a traditional Sgian Dubh that bears no resemblance to this shite.

@@johnmcfarlane13 Hi John, Thank you for the note back! My query to Walter was an effort to see if I could afford a gift to my Chief or the Chief of wife's clan when they visit Georgia / South Carolina USA next year. My Chief has dozens if not hundreds of Sgian Dubh(s) from many honoriams, so we wanted to present something memorable for his visit. A Sgian Dubh from a local bladesmith we thought would fit the bill! Something original and noteworthy and a token of their visit to GA/ SC. Walter's interpretation of both Sgian Dubh (s) is very unique, and very non-traditional, but exciting in the craftsmanship he demonstrates (even though he does support Clemson University football) ,lol. Take care, Slàinte!

@@jcs6347 I'd suggest if you want a traditional knife not to buy one from someone who discribes it as "wear with your kilt, or whatever" and gives zero fucks about making it in the first place. His "spin" is simply, not being bothered to do the research. Laochan means wee boy, not hero BTW.

Not Walter but generally speaking tactical knives in custom knife making as opposed to production knives where "tactical" tends to be a selling gimmick generally means that it has no extraneous features or sacrifices of function for aesthetics. Wood handles look fantastic and are plenty serviceable in working knives as they've been used for that for thousands of years, there's nothing wrong with them, but g10 is and other artificial materials are far more resistant to changes of humidity and physical damage. Brass bolsters do serve some purpose however with artificial materials that more-or-less lack a grain direction (Not technically true in the case of fiberglass reinforced nylon and carbon fiber but I digress) the use for them is greatly diminished to the point where having them on a knife isn't really worth it in terms of weight, as it adds nearly nothing to the overall practicality. Tl;dr Tactical knives are function over all else, form be damned. This is not to say non-tactical knives aren't useful or practical, no. Personally I use more 'traditional' knives for pretty much everything.

Tactical is the aesthetic, also overused. Akin to bushcraft.

@@jonanderson5137 Ah so he really means tacticool.

I'd say "tactical" is really just a nicer word for "combat" knife. Whether it's more functional is a different story, but it should be more geared towards the needs of self-defense/ combat applications. In this particular case the second knife has a lower saber grind with bigger grind angle, keeping the blade a little more robust, and a sturdier handle material with a texture that offers more traction.

RU-vidVoice : I knew there’s supposed to be some connection between “tactical” things and combat. I’ve eve seen absurd things like “tactical pens” and “tactical wallets” advertised. But realistically, you can cut somebody about as well with one of these knives as another- especially since they are the same size and shape, and their weights can’t be very different

its peened on, so it isn't coming off. and if they are flat enough, they will be watertight, so rust isn't an issue

I’m the exact opposite. I find the hand sanding to be very relaxing, a way to get out in the shop and get away from it all. To each his own I guess......You send me yor unfinished knives, and Ill do the detail work, and you do my forging/stock removal. LOL.

I dont know if youd want me forging anything for you. I have yet to forge a knife, all the ones I've made so far are just stock removal. I've done some practice stuff making little ornaments and a shoehorn, but I havent completed a forged knife yet. The biggest reason I get frustrated hand sanding is because I am fairly new to knife making and so I make a lot of mistakes while grinding so I have lots of things to fix with hand sanding. Once the knife is hardened and I'm doing the finish hand sanding I dont mind doing that so much it's just after grinding and I'm sanding out sander marks.

Kirkpatrick is fairly Irish. The Patrick part comes from St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. There's definitely a Scottish part to the name though

Why? He forges blades just fine.

Technically he's a bladesmith