We repaired and refurbished this Sgian Dubh for Scottish author Andrew James Greig. This was worn by Andrew’s grandfather, Gordon Stewart Greig when he was wounded at Gommecourt on the first day of the battle of the Somme. Fortunately he survived his injuries and was later commissioned into the London Scottish Regiment. Andrew has written about the history of the Sgian Dubh and his grandfather at his blog.
The Sgian Dubh was missing its pommel stone so we made a new top ferrule from a sheet of nickle silver to match the rest of the metalwork and this holds a Tayside Amethyst pommel stone which our friend Nat at Scottish Gemstones cut for us. The blade needed treated for rust and the old nickle silver fittings required gentle cleaning and were re-secured. The wooden handle was in better condition so just needed a little cleaning and tidying and an application of preservation wax.
Andrew kindly wrote to us;
“Just to say the Sgian Dubh has arrived safely and I’m blown away – you’ve transformed a sad-looking relic into what will be a family heirloom… I am immensely impressed with how you’ve been able to restore the sgian dubh yet keep its provenance intact and I am grateful that I can pass this down to the next generation and beyond.”
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