In my experience, the more people fixate on weaponry, the less likely they are to look well put together. I'd rather see a kilt worn at the right length than the plastic handle of some battle ready letter opener sticking out of poorly cuffed hose. I understand that some people feel a need to have a sharp spike in their sock to kill all the wild boars at the local ren fest, but by and large you don't need a bladed sgian. If you normally carry a pocket knife, by all means put one in your sporran or even in your hose where the sgian goes.

To put it another way, If you don't normally walk around with a sharp ornamental dagger, are you really missing out by omitting it from your Highlandwear? There are plenty of redundant/nonfunctional elements that go with the kilt that are purely ornamental (like the kilt pin, various cuff adornments, ghillies, neckties, etc.), so I'm not sure I buy the "function must follow form" argument.

When I lived in Scotland this was so much less of an issue. I rarely wore a sgian, be it while piping or at various events where plenty of other people were kilted. Many of my Scottish friends did not (and still do not) bother with them. In my experience, there's less lore about "blades" over there. There's also a lot more sensitivity about knife crime, so most people don't carry them. "But this is part of national dress" is not likely to win over a 300lbs Welsh bouncer whose goal in life is not to get stabbed by a Ned running wild on Buckfast while keeping a door in a Glasgow pub.

There are plenty of beautiful alternatives, like one of Rab Gordon's collector-worth sgian brews, that will fill a person's hose with more panache than a razor sharp bauble.