Thanks for the link! Some nice stuff there indeed!

I have a pretty good handle on the sanding after doing the dagger (I learned my lesson on moving on before all the previous scratches were removed on that...what a time consuming lesson that is).

Regarding the spine, I was kind of hoping to do this all by hand, as I'm kind of in transit right now (Chicago, currently Oklahoma City for a year, then back to Chicago in April) and have really no power tools (or space to use them) at my disposal...but maybe i need to find someone in Oklahoma City that has a buffer they would be willing to let me use...

I will definitely update this thread to completion, although there may be some sizable gaps between updates

I wish you were close too, or more precisely, I wish I was closer...because then it would be summer and I could walk to any store and by Arnott's Mint Slices any time I wanted!