They are gorgeous! I definitely want to be able to do something like that someday. My first step will be throwing some slabs on a Mule. I just noticed the "vocation vacation" thing over at Albion Swords and looked into it. I thought it sounded really cool but its like $1150 for "one or two days" If it was like "make your own blade in the Busse Custom Shop" I'd be all over it but thats just too much for 1-2 days at Albion in the middle of nowhere.

Can the kitchen knife go in the dishwasher? My mom puts wood-handled knives in the dishwasher but I definitely don't put my Spyderco Yang in the dishwasher. But then again, I don't even use my dishwasher hehe... Did you get the wood already stabilized, do you do it yourself, or do you just treat the wood at the end? I have two mules to play with and I'm sure if I don't do anything too drastic I can just start over if I mess up. I'm tempted to try some wood or I might just make some of my own "micarta". I made some plexiglass in a test tube in college and it was easy enough.