Really nice! Is the saya chiseled out like traditionally done? If so, how hard was the wood to chisel?
i hollowed out one 1/4 board for the cavity then planed down another 1/4 board to 1/8 for the "cap" used a single bevel carving knife( scraps from my fist batch) as a sort of chisel, a proper chisel would have been a lot faster, it was pretty straightforward though, the poplar is regular and works easily.