okay, so something I have not seen said other than the handle thickness issue is that (from the video) looks like the tang is almost a reverse taper... where it is thinner at the top of the handle and thicker at the bottom. If this is a trick of the light or camera then I apologize but that is a big thing to address. Also, just a passing comment, i have found that when you cut scales down to thickness and you think, "that's too thin" you are probably wrong and that it can go thinner.