We had shitty cable/internet issues last night/earlier today but I didn't really care because I was busy.
Naturally I'm not content at the idea of only having a single handle size available, but calling them small or large is bleh.
Unlike that fucking coffee place, I have a method to my madness. Smilodon came in three species, the smallest were called Gracilis or "graceful ones" I think, next largest Fatalis (which probably was supposed to imply it being fatal, but actually works out as fated or destined), and last but furthest from least would be Populator or "one who devastates/lays waste" and is generally the one people think of as the La Brea cats. I've got a larger Populator scale handle set aside but will need to check my stock to pick out pieces that can fit that much pattern cleanly.
I'm almost embarrassed looking at some of my old handles now. A few are still nice looking in their own way but some which I was super happy with are just funny looking after seeing how goddamn stylish and crisp these are.
Naturally when you're using hand tools you head towards a desired goal and risk errors or compromises as you close in on your finished project. Slapping a pattern on a piece of wood and running it through a bandsaw is a simple way to reproduce the same outcome each time, but the risks change from flawed results with hand work over to serious injury or impairment with powered tools. Rather than trying to exactly reproduce a pattern I try to get the identifiable features in place and see how the different grain patterns show before deciding what to accentuate or reduce to get an aesthetically pleasing piece free of flaws and defects. Just among these four I had to vary some of the features like the upper/lower horn curvature and how far the fangs wrap towards each other to avoid knots and whatnot while keeping the grain alignment necessary to withstand frequent usage. Side by side you can see some of the shaping and sizing changes, but the main differences are only clear when you hold one or the other because it's really clear when one just blends into your grip seamlessly while the other feels great but wants
you to adjust to it. I could happily use a Gracilis or Populator sized handle but they don't hit exactly the right parts of my hand with exactly the right shapes and textures like a Fatalis does for me, or the missus' custom Neofelis does for her little fingers. Saw handle sizing is a remarkably complicated task!
All in all I'm pretty happy with how these are progressing, now if only I could figure out why my thinkmeat wants to call the little ridge+hollow transitions "boning" because I can't find any similar usage of the term outside of shit like girdle inlays, the fuck is going on up there, brain?