Using a Mora No. 1 as a Sgian Dubh

[rescout]

This is probably not an original idea. We just finished a Scout Camporee with a Scottish Games theme. Several good ladies of my son's Troop made flannel Black Watch kilts. I got a bit caught up in it and picked up some accessories, but one item I refrained from buying was a cheap sgian dubh. Because I wanted to see how the kilt out worked first (grrreat!) and because I want a knife to be a useful, good knife.

I have a humble Mora No 1 for which in the past I burned off the factory handle red paint, darkening the birch, treated it with tung oil, and waxed. The blade was given a quick, dirty, and amateur cold blue using Oxphoblue. This is an inexpensive knife, but done with good Swedish carbon steel, well built, very lightweight, and comfortable. It comes with a simple plastic sheath that happens to be reasonably secure, quite compact, and indifferent to water and sweat. I thus tucked it into my knee length scout socks and there you are. It's not as flat as a real Sgian Dubh, but as a using knife it's probably better.

It's said that Scouting today looks down on a fixed blade, but they are not explicitly forbidden, so it worked fine in this environment. It doesn't hurt that the Mora as a sterling reputation as an outdoorsman or "bushcraft" knife!

I'll put up some picture links in a later post.