Bad Attitude Farm & Forge LLC

Ethnically distinct knives / swords for this winter.

Since starting this blog, I have spent most of my time on the farm.  Now that things are slowing down, I expect to get back to work with the forge where this whole new life started.  The plan is to have the first knives and swords worthy of our imprint by this spring.  Here are a few of the projects I have planned.

Athame and Boline set – Mentioned by other names in the book The Keys of Solomon the King, the words athame and boline have become the modern (almost New Age) terms.  I would like very much to create a historically accurate set.

Kagin (also spelled kaguan) – An ethnically Malaysian sword often referred to as the “flying cat” which is said to possess supernatural powers.  It is likely to be a European spelling of the word “kagin” comes from the older word “kaguan” (also known as cobegos / colago ) which is variously known as a flying cat or flying lemur despite being neither.

Similar in appearance to the kris / keris, which might have a straight or wavy blade, the kagin has a straight, tapered, double-edged blade with an integral guard.  From what I understand of the way the word is used, a kagin is always a keris but a keris is not necessarily a kagin.  I believe the difference is that the kagin always has a guard integral to he blade and tang.  That is to say, the guard is part of the same chunk of metal that forms the blade and tang.  I have seen many ceremonial keris without an integral guard.

It is interesting to note that the fictional character Kagin Atreides, from the book Dune,  was described by the author as having a long knife / short sword of similar design at his side.

Nicker Knife – A fairly small single-edged German hunting knife traditionally forged with an integral guard and finished with stag antler.  Back in the day, small nicker knifes were to German youth what the pen knife was to American youth.  Receiving your first from your father was an indispensable right of passage.

Sgian Dubh – Literally meaning “knife (sgian) black (dubh)” or “black knife”, there are two versions of how the knife got its name.  The romanticized version refers to its use as a clandestine weapon.  In this use, the term “black” is used similar to the term “black ops”.  Then there is the more pragmatic explanation; the material praised for its construction was bog oak.  Bog oak is a material found in the bogs of the area, which began its life several thousand years earlier as a white oak.  After so much time in an anaerobic atmosphere soaking with chemicals like tannin, the white oak turned black (and other colors) as it partially fossilized.

Today this knife is an indispensable part of traditional Scottish attire.  It’s handle can be found peeking out of the sock of any kilted self respecting bag pipe player.  This is so much so that England and Scottland have both enacted laws respecting the right of Scottsmen to ware the knife with traditional garb.

Out of sheer happenstance, I managed to get my hand on a small amount of bog oak.  So naturally, I am going to go with the less romantic story behind its name.