Ivy wood Sgian dubh

[Arlen]

This post might be a little picture heavy, just to give you a heads up.

I'm an avid woodworker, but I'm pretty much teaching myself as I go, because my Dad has just enough D.I.Y knowhow that, as a child, I remember him patching a hold in the wall with newspaper and toothpaste.

That said, I felt I'd got pretty decent and decided to try my hand at a Sgina Dubh.

A friend of mine from Perth recently graduated and I wanted to make him a small keepsake.
Being that he's in the same situation as me (A girlfriend half way across the world) I thought I might make him something that reminded him of her.
Her name is Ivy.

And so I set off for a nice, forested spot to find some ivy old enough to provide wood.

And boy did I find some. Vines bigger than my arm on a very, very old and now dead tree.


This is a shot of the ivy just to show that it really is ivy vines. (Some of them even still have leaves sprouting out of them.)


And this is my hand on one of the vines to show just how big they are.


So I selected a block and took it home, cleaned off the bark and left it to dry.


When it was dry and I was happy that the wood would be hard enough, I ordered a blade blank. Then polished it with some fine-grained sandpaper. Here's a before and after.


The I got an ox-rib bone from the local butcher, cleaned it up and cut two segments to use as caps.



Here's the sgian basically assembled.
I used 2 part epoxy to fit the caps and the blade and it's just about finished setting.



For the sheath I used a thin leather belt, folded it and sewed the edges.
then, for effect, I got out one of my stamps (For sealing wax on letters) and heated it before stamping the sheath.

Here is the sgian so far.


Once I'm happy that it's completely dry I'll sand it till the caps are completely flush, polish it and then varnish it.
So this will probably be updated tomorrow.

[McMurdo]

Nice work Arlen I am sure your friend will love it, can't wait to see the finished product.

[Splash_4]

Wow Arlen, that is a great gift. Much more so because you made it! (and very nice work, might I add)

[Cawdorian]

Very nice Arlen.

[Woodsheal]

Good work, Arlen! Careful, people might start sending you orders...!

[SoldierSpike]

Wonderful idea, and beautiful grain on that wood!

Marc

[turpin]

I like that a lot, Arlen. I've got two blanks in my basement, and a neighbor who works in all kinds of wood. Maybe has some scraps. Hmmm.

Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[Raptor]

Beautiful, Arlen Love the character of the Ivy, I might have to start looking around for some myself!

[Archangel]

Nice work, frankly, I'm trying to glean as many ideas as I can from here. Really liked the bone idea. Wished you'd written before I ordered the nickel silver.

[Arlen]

Thanks for all the support, guys.
I'm really happy with the way it's turned out, and I've learned from it. I know there's a few things I'll do differently next time and I'm playing around with ideas for a few new sgians.