Thank you gentlemen, for your kind and true remarks. Good work done by hand is the real sign of craftsmanship. And any good craftsmanship has to be admired, it is often only attained after long years of practice.

Back to the project:
The nickel silver guard is soft silver soldered on to the blade. Still has to be cleaned up. At the moment I'm waiting for some new aluminum sheet to arrive, as the pieces i've got are too thick. Not the easiest thing to get .05"sheet in The Netherlands!