Hello, new member here.

I've recently been thinking of purchasing a Scottish dirk, functional rather than fashionable, but as I am a newcomer to the historical arms scene, I do not know what questions I should ask of vendors.

Steel quality is a likely question, naturally, but there are a dozen others I've been wondering about. For example, should a decent dirk be full tang?

Any advice or resources would be welcome. I'm flying blind here.

Your best bet may be the Cold Steel Dirk as far as mass produced dirks are concerned. I have had the opportunity to own and examine a number of them and they seem to be well made and sturdy. The company furnishes a "proof certificate" with each blade showing that it has passed proof testing as required by the British MOD. How legitimate that is I do not know. The grip looks good but is not authentic but that does not to be a main concern for you.

If by "full tang" you mean a tang which runs the length of the grip then that is a valid consideration and should be a feature on a dirk which gets hard usage. I think the Cold Steel dirk has that type of construction. However, if you mean full tang as in the tang is the same shape as the grip, I doubt you will find one made that way although since you are not concerned about aesthetics then you may find one made by a custom builder which fits the bill.

Most dirks these days are ornaments, although Vince Evans and Glen McLain make mighty nice pieces that are also functional.

I am sure some other forum members will weigh in.

Thank you for the advice!

The Cold Steel is an attractive option; I recently found it on the Kult of Athena website. I have mainly been looking at the Windlass Damascus Dirk (http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...tish+Dirk+), though I've been hearing some mixed opinions on the quality of Windlass products. Anyone have any thoughts?

Thank you again!

I can't speak for the pattern welded Windlass steel, but Windlass has great HT on their monosteel pieces. Lots of complaints to be found about Windlass including historicity issues, weight issues, balance issues, fit and finish issues, but I've never heard anybody say that their windlass had bad HT. I like Windlass, personally; I'm more into other swords for the most part now, but what I've had from them was good value for money and I wouldn't hesitate to buy one of their knives or spearheads, or one of their swords for that matter if it fit my tastes. General rule of thumb with them is don't expect anything above the price range and you won't be disappointed. Sometimes you'll be pleasantly surprised.

That Cold Steel one is uggggggly, though, and not really representative of historical examples if that's a concern for you.

The Cold Steel doesn't sound like it handles too well, either. Hmm.

I thank you all for your input! Aside from a tang that goes the length of the handle, what other things should a decent dirk have? Is there somewhere I could poke around to find out more?

From an historical perspective this link is a great start;

http://www.myArmoury.com/feature_spot_dirks.html

Cheers

Paul

Might I suggest one from Todsstuff in the UK? I have one of his all brass hilted Scottish Dirks, and it is quite nice (and fully functional).

Another for Tod's stuff.

Don't forget antique military dirks. They can be found for reasonable prices and no problems with authenticity or functionality.

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The main downside with military dirks, apart from all the silver-work which needs to be kept clean, is that they are generally very late forms and highly ornamental. Certainly they function, but a less ornamental, earlier form may be more practical and easier to use. Not to mention that some of the military ones can get quite sizeable and unwieldy (this is a personal preference though)...