Personally, I think it's cool looking. When the blade work is done you could perhaps do the resin impregnated cord thing and wrap MORE cord to thicken the handle up. Another thing would be to cut maybe 6 pieces of that rebar about two inches long, weld them together with one in the center and 5 around, and weld that on as a pommel, that would keep with the rebar theme, as well as making it balance better if needed. As far as the weld failing, if it fails, it'll fail upon flexing, used for straight sweeping cuts and having been sharpened ( not attempting trees or anything foolish, of course) I don't see that happening. it should shear through water bottles and other "flesh-approximators" easily. i think the reason people worry is that more than one of us have had a "wall-hanger" with a threaded rod that's been welded on fail at the weld point, leaving us with a hilt and perhaps guard and a cheapie stainless blade lying in the grass 20 feet away,but this isn't that type of weld, it's not spot welded and sanded down dots of slag, it's an actual fusing of the metal that when sanded down and should be as strong as the original steel. Please post more as it comes along.
