Thai jungle knife short bush sword

This was made for a knife in the hat exchange, or KITH, over on Don Fogg's forum. The idea on this KITH was to make a blade that was either mythological (though myth could be of modern and even personal manufacture) or tribal in aesthetics. I was originally planning a forge finished integral socket bush sword with a La Tene-style blade inspired by Robert E. Howard's "The Valley of the Worm", but time drew near and I came across a style of blade from the jungles of Thailand that really caught my eye, and I went with that instead.

The blade is approximately 13" long and 3/16" thick, forged from 5160 and given my typical triple normalization, triple quench in canola oil, and triple tempering cycle heat treatment that I use for 5160. Here's what it looked like post-hardening and pre-tempering:



After tempering, cleaning off the oil, and wrapping the handle with hemp and tying two-strand Turk's head knots in cotton:



After sealing the wrap in black shellac:



And after sharpening to shaving sharp,



It's on its way to its new owner, Scott Roush, who makes awesome knives.

Looks absolutely perfect - all business. Very fine work. Is the handle centered when sighting down the spine on this type design? I suspect it is - is the "S" curve challenging?

Thank you! Yes, the handle is centered on the blade. A lot of the ones made in Southeast Asia are offset, but I've seen video of them being made and they are being cranked out as fast as possible. It takes me a while to work on my socket handles and get them rolled neatly and positioned correctly.

Which "S" curve are you talking about?