COVID has been hard for us all. But there have been upsides for some of us. I’ve loved not sitting in traffic every day on my commute – and decided that I should invest some of my new ‘bonus’ time in my community. So over the last few months I’ve cleared around 20 sacks of […]
As of today, Nepal has still been largely spared the nightmare of Covid. But it has come at a high price. The country is in lockdown and without a welfare state, the poorest who are commonly casual labourers, have no income and are struggling to eat. Our skilled sgian dubh craftsman isn’t able to access […]
No need to brandish your sgian dubh in self-defence if approached by an ‘upkilter’ – you now have full legal protection :-) More on this story from the bbc here.
Well that’s how you pronounce it. But what is the origin of this term for the famous Scottish ankle knife, and how do you spell it? Sgian dubh literally means ‘dark (dubh) knife (sgian)’ in Scots Gaelic. The ‘dubh’ refers to its secretive, hidden nature, rather than its physical colour. The idea was to have […]
5 years after my conversation with Sheila Fleet I found myself in the beautiful country of Nepal, working for a Christian mission that serves poor people and communities through health and community development. It wasn’t long until I found myself in a ‘Kukuri’ shop, admiring the traditional knives of Nepal; worn by Gurkha soldiers as […]
I’d just turned 18 and like many Scotsmen was getting a full highland outfit to mark my “coming of age”. My younger sisters clubbed together to buy my sgian dubh and, having always been fascinated by knives and craft, I was really excited to finally get my hands on this symbol of Scottish manhood. With […]
