My friend hasn't yet come up with his antler for my new handle (grr!), so I'm considering other options, if it doesn't appear this week. Maybe curly birch, maybe blackwood. I'll still use a cast pewter bolster/guard though.
But I've got to say, this is a simply amazing workhorse of a knife, even with the too-small handle. With a lot of work on the waterstones, I evened up the bevels, making it into a full Scandinavian grind. Honed and stropped, it simply cuts like nothing I've ever used before. I'm going to have to get another.
t.