I made this prototype last week and just fell in love with making these knives. I know this has some defects mainly in the ring is really thin and that stems from the weld at that end of the blade coming loose at that end of the bullet after folding the steel. to be fair though I was just happy I managed to pull off folding the steel twice. ya, I made a prototype blade from pattern welded damascus, however, I found a started bar I had made last August and just decided to make the blade using it instead of a piece of leaf spring which is what I normally make prototypes from as I keep my prototypes. The ring elongated a bit as I had to hammer on it a bit to true it up after I cut out the ring with a hole saw instead of doing it before I cut the hole. I believe as the the ring is meant for some striking and I worry that if I struck something with this prototype I would break my finger due to the thinness of the ring. I hardened just the blade and ring via heating them separately in my forge (i have not gotten around to getting an oxi fuel torch yet) and also did very little grinding before quenching as the blade is so small I wanted it to have as much mass as possible. plan on just leaving it as a 'tactical' blade instead of mounting a handle so I can admire the pattern welding. the blade is double-edged and I etched it for 55 min in a 50/50 solution of ferric and tap water for about 55 min to get a 3d effect to the pattern.

I made it so it will fit my hand and the statistics are:

overall 8 inches

blade length: 2 1/2"

also, the blade looks more like a demon claw than a tiger claw.

so should I make any changes aside from the ones i mentioned.