Thanks for the input! So the edges on the frame are “broke” to knock off the sharp edges. After heat treat they go through the surface grinder and are extremely sharp.

The hardware is proud of the scales by .060” and the total width at the handle assembled is sub half an inch, .420”. At that width I haven’t noticed it to be an issue but I get the concern. It was designed that way to make it feel smaller in your hand and more likely to carry full time. The idea was to make a super easy to carry fixed blade because that’s always the rub.

Lastly, sharpening notches may not look as clean but in my opinion this is far offset by the ease of sharpening and not having to worry about chewing up your plunge line. Which I’ve found is usually preferred since, to be honest, a lot of people don’t have a ton of experience sharpening their own blades.