Since I switched my profile pic to the red handled knife I've gotten a lot of questions about it. I figured I'd post the prelim pics of the new version. A .mil (can't remember what service, I think Army) guy asked me about making a version of it with more muted tones and this is the end result.
1/8" 1080
9" overall
Single sided grind, double sided secondary bevels (pic predates sharpening)
"Black" linen micarta handles
Stainless hardware
Aged patina finish on the steel, which doubles as a corrosion inhibitor.

It's not a heavy duty knife, more a light weight field knife. The blade is ground down fairly thin with a razor like edge for skinning, making snares or any other slicing chore where a fine edge but larger blade is useful rather than a chopper.

Man that's a mighty fine knife! You don't get a sense of how large that blade is until you see it in hand.

yeah, it's really not that long a blade, but fairly significant at 4 3/4" and about 1 1/2 tall at the highest. I think it looks bigger than it is when in the hand. The design of the blade and plunge line enhance that.

Yea maybe its the plunge. It looks more like 2"+ tall.

Nice looking blade shape.

This shape has always had a slightly shark like feel for me. It's popular though. I've done slimmer versions, a bit over 1" tall on the blade, and they look very nice too, but with a more lean feel to it. I actually have one of the slim ones with a cord wrap for myself.

One of these days I'll venture into using some damascus, Damascus.  I just don't think I'm good enough, reliably enough, to invest that much in one chunk of metal. If I screw up royally on a chunk of 1080 I'm out a few bucks at most, no pressure, no stress and I don't mind pushing my limits to improve my skills. I'd be seriously paranoid working with the much more expensive materials. heck, I don't even use burl yet for my handles. getting there, but not yet.

Poppy cock!!!!!! Your grind lines and finish look just fine to me. Get over the fear of the price as working pattern welded steel is really no different than the 1080 you are using. It's all a mental hurdle that you have to jump. When it comes to the scales I worry much more. Burl is very inexpensive compared to some of the scale material I've used. When I was heavily into the knife show circuit it was nothing to spend 2-3 hundred on one set of mammoth ivory scales. I often spent 3-4k just on scale material before I even purchased any steel.

IM me if you have any questions.

yeah, but with my knife making budget, if I goof on a piece of damascus I'm in a big hole. If I goof on a piece of 1080, *shrug* I don't goof to that extent often, but I've got a few knives floating around that I thought were not good enough to sell and there wasn't an salvaging the problem. Mind you, if they used a $100 chunk of steel I might reconsider how much to do to salvage things, but you know what I mean. I'll probably do my first damascus as a gift for family. Build confidence that way. :)
For the handle material, it's more just a question of what I feel my work is worth, as I feel the quality and to some extent "rep" improves I charge more, and feel it's more appropriate to use fancier materials. I like to keep price in line with overall quality, adding expensive materials means my goofs cost more and I have to charge a lot more. As a new maker that's tough, no significant rep and customer base. It's going though, each one gets better,