Those are all very good, I'll say for me all of the ones mentioned so far, and slotting a guard. I know I'm not very good at it, so I've committed the next several blades to be hidden tangs, that's the only way I know of to get better, is by making them, I guess aside from that, handsanding, to a degree I hate it, but I usually put or try to put a hamon on my blades, so part of it is awful, while the other part is getting to see the birth of the hamon, which is nothing but pure joy! I get pretty anxious when I'm drilling the handles too, no matter if it's a full tang or hidden tang, I'll stop measure, drill some, stop measure, drill some, kind of like an OCD kid, trying to get out the door, oh that's me too!
Rex