Red Maple Burl, Stainless and Rosewood Sgian Dubh

**Kerr the Walker** · 5th December 08, 09:51 PM

Some pics of a Christmas present for a friend of mine.

Handle is Red Maple burl with stainless steel and rosewood accents. Blade is from Atlanta Cutlery. Temper isn't that great. Quite flexible. Haven't tried to sharpen it, but I expect it won't hold an edge all that well.

Anyway...enjoy!

(tartan is Kerr Modern)

Side note: Found out recently that his family is from Jedburgh. The Kerrs sacked Jedburgh back in the reiving times.

**svc40bt** · 5th December 08, 10:05 PM

Very nice. You have a lucky friend. How was the burl, to work with? I have been contemplating a similar project, just have to figure out what to do for a blade.

**Kerr the Walker** · 5th December 08, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by svc40bt

How was the burl, to work with?

No real surprises working the burl. Worked it slowly and a little bit at a time with hand tools and had no problems. Although, I did "stabilize" it in wood hardener before I started. Looking back, I think the maple would have been hard enough without the hardener. The hardening material darkened up the wood a bit more than I was expecting/wanting.

I've got another project going right now on which I didn't "stabilize" the burl, so I'll be sure and post pics/lessons-learned from that project when it's done.

As far as blades go, I've ordered several damascus blades from Caulfield Leather and been thoroughly impressed with the workmanship. Price is good too. http://www.caulfieldleather.co.uk/

Hope this helped.

**arrg-isle** · 6th December 08, 12:53 PM

Very nice workmanship; take a bow!
As for Damascus, you might enjoy checking out the website of my buddy Ray Rantanen; google his name on any good engine, he's not hard to find, and is a craftsman worth knowing, even without becoming a customer.
Was also just pondering that if you really wanted to address the Clan Kerr tradition (tongue firm in cheek here), all accoutments like sgians would need to be built for left-handed use, right?

**Kerr the Walker** · 6th December 08, 10:26 PM

Many thanks for the kind words, all. Truly, without the support and inspiration from the folks here on Xmarks, I would not have ventured into what has become an extremely enjoyable release from the daily grind.

Originally Posted by arrg-isle

Was also just pondering that if you really wanted to address the Clan Kerr tradition (tongue firm in cheek here), all accoutments like sgians would need to be built for left-handed use, right?

Got a left handed sgian for my pops in the works right now.

Dad, and dad's dad were both "Kerr fisted". Oddly enough, my two sibs and I all ended up right handed....