What's up with the sgian dubh nowadays!?!?!

[Dreadbelly]

Very good eye sir.

That style of blade would gain an extra inch or so and would eventually become that particular modle. The knife in the picture only has a 2 inch blade. The handle, at the time, was pretty impressive stuff. The wetter it gets, the "stickier" it feels. Covered in grease, water, sweat, whatever, makes the grip feel tacky and sticky in your hand. It's rubbery and spongy. My knife was a first generation of a new style.

The second generation the blades were thinned out just a little bit, extended to 3 inches and 3 3/4th inches depending on the model. The back edge of the knife became straighter. They also slowly phased out the "squared" tip going for something a bit more pointed. Prices dropped considerably with the next few production models. Sort of like when the Leatherman was first introduced, the prices were astronomical, insane, and quickly dropped down to a much more reasonable price. Also, the grips went from being somewhat spongy to being hard as a brick. I am not sure why, I actually liked the soft squeezeable grip. Less stress on the hands during certain jobs. Also, I personally didn't like the change to a more pointed blade. I am not sure why, but I like the squared off tip on the one I have.

They also made a folder, which I wasn't impressed with at all. I really hate to say it, but it felt... Chintzy. The metal frame that housed the blade, it would press in to your fingers uncomfortably when you sqeezed the rubberised grip. Which was just rubbery. None of the sticky feeling of the earlier generations. The metal frame was also thin, and bent easily if you squeezed to hard.

I wonder if Mora makes a wee knife.

[Sciuropterus]

I think any of the slim lockblades with with the pocket clip are well-siuted for sock wear.
For all but the most formal events, I usually have a Jaguar M4 Balisong knife peeking out of my sock. I plan to get one of the Cold Steel's fiberglass skean dhu knives also.

I would never throw a knife unless I didn't care if I got it back.

I don't like to carry expensive knives, the lawmen here tend to confiscate them, or even worse, I lose them.

[Freelander Sporrano]

Have a look at these this guy live just up the road from me here in Norway
http://www.vestfoldnett.com/art/knut-dahl/

[Archangel]

Have a look at these this guy live just up the road from me here in Norway
http://www.vestfoldnett.com/art/knut-dahl/

very interesting road you live on.
What kind of price range are these?

[Freelander Sporrano]

About 800 to 1000US . Sten Rune (My partner in Sporrans) Says the dragon in 1995 was around the 800 dollar mark .

I'll e-mail the chap and ask him. Every thing is hand made from blade to sheeth

[auld argonian]

...just a dumb newbie question (two questions, actually):

...could someone please give me a phonetic pronunciation of sgain dubh so that I don't make an *** of myself if the topic comes up in conversation...

...and would the plural be "sgains dubh" or "sgain dubhs"?

I had a buddy who was very up on Gaelic languages and I once pinned him down on why some of the words are pronounced so differently from their spelling even when they are "anglicized" for consumption by the unenlightened...he had no good answer for the question...go figure.

best

argonian

[Dreadbelly]

Skeen DOO.

DOO should rhyme with NOO! Which can only be properly said with a Scottish burr.

[Archangel]

...just a dumb newbie question (two questions, actually):

...could someone please give me a phonetic pronunciation of sgain dubh so that I don't make an *** of myself if the topic comes up in conversation...

...and would the plural be "sgains dubh" or "sgain dubhs"?

I had a buddy who was very up on Gaelic languages and I once pinned him down on why some of the words are pronounced so differently from their spelling even when they are "anglicized" for consumption by the unenlightened...he had no good answer for the question...go figure.

best

argonian

Dread's close enough, there's sort of a skip in the first word "ski" then "yen" or "yan", the NOO sound sort of goes nasal on the first O and slides to normal. The k sound is not too sharp that's why you sometimes see the hard "g" sound. It's in between there. The "y" is barely there. That's why it's a different language and varied spelling for the English. There's a lot of lilts, pauses, and emphasis. All of which vary from area to area. The basic rule is to say it very fast and try and make it all one word.

Plural, most would accept skean dhus, Scottish Gaelic plural is usually an "ach" suffix. I'm not sure what the absolute grammar rule would be. Try, "Please give me a skean dhu, and while you're at it, give me two more." (I know, I stole that from some president, I think.)

[An t-Ileach]

...just a dumb newbie question (two questions, actually):

...could someone please give me a phonetic pronunciation of sgain dubh so that I don't make an *** of myself if the topic comes up in conversation...

...and would the plural be "sgains dubh" or "sgain dubhs"?

I had a buddy who was very up on Gaelic languages and I once pinned him down on why some of the words are pronounced so differently from their spelling even when they are "anglicized" for consumption by the unenlightened...he had no good answer for the question...go figure.

best

argonian

Argonian,

We're talking anglicisms here, really. So Archangel's phonetics are as close as any. I'd plump for "sgian dubhs" in the plural.

Gaelic does have a system about its orthography, it's just not an English system, which is why it often seems incomprehensible. And why the way a word sounds seems nothing like the way it's written - such as "man from Skye" sounds like 'skee un okh' but is written sgitheanach or sgiathanach: or a "man from Islay" sounds like "un chee lyokh" but is written an t-Ìleach.

Actually, strictly speaking and a matter of interest, the "black" part should be written dhubh (and pronounced with a sort of gentle gargling sound 'ghoo') as sgian is a feminine noun, and the plural in Gaelic would be sgèine-dhubh ("skay nyu ghoo").

But in our everyday lives we are dealing with a loan-word into English, so sgian-dubh and sgian-dubhs, in my opinion, works fine. It's like two other loan-words from Gaelic: "galore" and "smashing" (I don't know whether you have this in American English, it means "really good" or something) - we wouldn't expect to see them written as gu leor or 's math sin, although they sound very much like they do in English.