A Tale Of Two Smatchets

Every now and then, a situation arises where I get to actually handle an example of one of the things I make.
This old Smatchet was sent to me for some minor repair work and was, on completion sent back home along with the new knife shown.
So we have a rare opportunity to compare and contrast although they're not really the same. I make a bastardized copy of the earliest British Smatchets while the old one is an American, second model, made by Case.
This is a fairly scarce knife even though 16,000 were said to have been produced. 6000 were retained in the US for the OSS while the remaining 10,000 were sent to Britain and were lost at sea - so the story goes.
I'd like to start making this style of sheath and leave the leather-over-wood as an option but...
I think we can agree; the handle on the Case is pangit. That isn't helped by the fact that aluminum doesn't age well.
Overall, it's blocky. The cross section is nearly square. Obviously a piece of wartime production.
The Smatchet I copied initially was built with a hidden tang while the Case uses a full-tang which explains the lack of interest in the handle shape.
I don't like full-tang knives for just that reason. You're locked into a handle the shape of the tang - or you've got to forge/cut/grind steel into a handle shape.
It is stronger but how often do knives break in the middle of the handle?

My blade has a little more heft - and the forging tends to make then thickest near the widest part of the blade - around 1/4".
I like the thin metal guard on the Case better than mine. I may go that way.
But, before I close, back to the wartime expediency.
Smatchets were originally contacted from the Ulster Knife Co. for $3.50 per unit.
According to the Inflation Calculator, that would be less than fifty bucks now.
I won't work that cheap.