I doubt that it will ever be a good chopper, because the blade is probably relatively thin. But it should make a good knife for cutting things.
If you really wanted to get alot out of it, you could send the knife to
Paul Bos to have it re-heat treated. I doubt that the heat treat is optimal, though it may be good.
I think I would replace the handle with some Micarta, G10, or Carbon Fiber (Be careful, these materials produce a very fine dust when you sand it, not good for your health. Wearing a respirator is proper procedure.) You can get these synthetic handle materials from
www.knifekits.com . Barring replacing the handle, I might make some grooves in it to make it more grippy. Once you get the knife if you don't like anything about the ergonomics, you can just grind/sand it to where you want it. Some things you could consider adding are: finger grooves, a finger choil, or jimping. You could also sand down the handle and then stain/finish it however you want to.
Without a bench grinder changing the blade shape more that a little bit would take awhile. I suppose you could add serrations on the blade (or spine) or saw teeth on the spine, but I personally would stay away from these options. Mostly personal taste, but I also think that it would be difficult to grind a saw that works well without some experience.
