Broken Bowie to Sgian Dubh
Sgian Dubh made from a broken Bowie blade
When I was about 18, I had a great Bowie knife. I’ve got no idea what happened to it, but I’ve never forgotten it. When I started making knives, that design was never far from my thoughts.
I’ve tried a few times to recreate it from memory.
Turns out, getting the proportions and balance of a Bowie just right is a bit harder than I expected.
In fact, maybe the universe is trying to tell me something—because the only two knives I’ve actually broken while making them have both been attempts at that Bowie.
The most recent one wasn’t that long ago. It came down to a brief lapse in judgement… the sort of moment where, if you’re honest, you already know how it’s going to end. Sure enough, the tang snapped clean off the blade. Completely predictable. Completely avoidable.
After I got over being annoyed with myself, I looked at what was left.
The piece of Damascus steel I’d been working with was too good to throw away, so I decided to salvage what I could. With no real plan in mind, I just started reshaping what was there, seeing where it might lead.
Eventually, it found its way into something quite different—a version of a Scottish Sgian Dubh.
(Which, to my ear, still sounds like a collection of letters that defy pronunciation, even with a decent Scottish accent.)
In these images, it’s still very much a work in progress—just roughed out and beginning to take shape. I’m still working on it and hoping I can do the style some justice. I’ll post a finished version when it gets there.
The Sgian Dubh itself is traditionally worn as part of Scottish dress, tucked into the top of the sock alongside the kilt and sporran. I can see how having a small knife tucked away in your sock would make you feel a wee bit more confident if you decided to walk into town in a skirt with no undies on, but the Scots are a wonderful, eccentric bunch of people, I have many friends who are Scottish and whiskey, their gift to the world, means that for me, they can wear whatever they like!
Looking back at this piece, it’s a good reminder that things don’t always go to plan in the workshop.
Sometimes they break.
But every now and then, if you’re willing to keep going, they turn into something you hadn’t expected—and maybe something just as interesting.
some of the bowie knives I have made trying to recreate from memory, the one I used to own