thanks ed, sword arrived today, essentially as described earlier, the third of the blade nearest the grip is not sharpened, has about a 1mm rounded edge.
the forward 2/3 are field sharp, middle third could be better, the tip and about two inches or so back are very sharp & stabby. balance about 5 in. in front of the guard.
hand grip area is slightly shorter than my longer kaskara, by about a quarter inch.
blade cross section is essentially lenticular/hexagonal - flat sides with a convex edge sharpening with no noticable transition.
feels light & agile. blade is slightly springy but not overly so. not sure how thick - i need to buy a micrometer
.
no active rust anywhere, some dark patination tho. i'm off to give it a drink of ballistol...