Thanks a bunch guys, I enjoy making these, I think mostly for all the forging involved. My non-Damascus blades are all made from 1 1/2"-2", 52100 stock.
The first one of these went to a Chef in NY maybe 6 or 7 years ago, since then I've sent them to four different countries and a bunch of different states. Nothing but positive feedback so far. The wife and have both been using them in our kitchens and both very happy with the design. Anything can get hard to hang onto with enough fat or grease on it but I sure like these better than the Henkles and others we had before.
I forgot to mention that I designed a couple locators into the handle back when I built the first one of these several years ago. See pics, also radius the spine and ricasso areas for user comfort. Don't have it handy but I believe the spine is just under .100" at the handle.