Gene,
You did a great job...beautiful blade! Look at the brass inlaid along the spine...and now we can see the pattern on the back of the blade...what struck me is how it reminded me of my village Kukri...definitely supports what Gavin & James where saying above about the Kukri influence...you see in Burmese martial art, Bando, they use the Kukri...Burmese language is related to Tibetan and also influenced by Chinese....
As far as where or not to mount the blade...why not? As Gavin said, I would make sure you consult on how to do it and undo it. As far as a handle type...well, can't go too wrong...looking at knives in SEA, there is such a variety in handle type.
Spiral...thanks for the links...now I see I pulled that one photo from Puff's post!
