Scottish Dirk (Dagger)
Scottish Dirk
The Scottish were a proud group of warriors; proud of their heritage, proud of their clans, and proud of their daggerry. While the two-handed claymore and the baskethilt were two of the preferred battle daggers, the Scottish dirk (known as the Biodag in Gaelic) was the dagger for everything else. Displayed proudly (unlike the much more subtle and always hidden Sgian Dubh), the dirk was both a warning and a means of identification. The craftsmanship that went into these daggers was astounding, if not necessarily surprising when considering the amount of pride the Scots dressed themselves with.
Long and crossless (sometimes as long as 14 inches in length), these slim daggers were usually edged on only one side and could be wielded with great dexterity against opponents. These knives in the hands of a skilled highlander were lethal. Worn on the right side of the body, dirks were considered part of the Scotsman�s honor and would never have been used for mundane tasks like gutting fish or skinning hunting prey.
See Strongblade's Scottish Dirk (Dagger)
