That's real purty. Allow me to show my complete ignorance of metal-working and tool-making to ask the following dumb questions.
1. Did you have to drill the hole to accept the bit, or is L12 steel hollow to start with? If not, how in the world do you drill such a hole? Drill press? What holds the shaft while you drill it? "No, 12L14 steel is just a easy to work leaded steel, its used to make muzzleloader barrels so it's pretty tuff, this started out as solid .625 stock. I have a small metal lathe and milling machine, I drilled the shaft on the lathe it requires a "S" drill bit."
2. Was the bit shaped that way, or did you have to grind it to that profile? If you ground it, was it grind and cool, grind and cool, grind and cool on a high speed grinder, or did it take three weeks on a Tormek type grinder? "No the its just a blank 1/4" square lathe bit, you have to grind it and yes its grind, dunk, grind, dunk. I started off on a coarse High Speed 6" wheel and finished on a 8" Low Speed wheel. It took about 20 minutes start to finish. I ground it stright across at 45 Degree and then rolled it to get the beval rounded and the tip slighty rounded"
3. I guess you drilled and tapped for the grub screws. I can see how you'd drill that, with a v-berth on the drillpress. " Thats one way and the way I would have if I didn't have a Milling Machine and good mill vise I also used a center finder to find the center of the stock (shaft)"
4. What's a grub screw? They look like Allen screws to me, does a grub screw have a different type of tip? "Just a Allen screw or set screw, its called a grub screw in some metal working circles, size is 10x32NF"
5. Is the ferrule just a piece of hard copper pipe (fitting?) hammered/pressed onto a taper on the handle? Or do you buy a ferrule from Aisle 23 at the BORG? " Just a 1" dia piece of copper coupler, it is shortend to the size I wanted. I turned the tendon just slightly over sized so its a very tight (Tapped On) fit. I then put a couple of dimples on it to make sure it holds"
BTW, not only is that a pretty final product, your camera work is excellent. Good clear close-up shots. Thanks.