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Looks like a tried and true design Hunter.
When l made those Toothpicks I had access to a band saw and there isn't any welded stick tacked on the knife, it's one solid piece from point to pommel. I also pinned the knife 4x up in the tang area where it tapers and I threaded about 2" of the end of the tang, it was ground 3/16 by 1/4 and there was plenty of thread in the pommel, even the cocobolo spacer was tapped, all glued and screwed. That knife ain't coming apart. I have a set of 6" drill bits too. BTW l avoid full tangs now mostly, the steel/handle area is a pain to get perfect.
As for attaching the pommel to the handle you can use one of those wood screw/machine thread combo bolts if you want too, or l just use a tap and tap the handle and the pommel and use brass 5/16-18 all-thread with epoxy or the glue of your choice, it's something l have done with the exotic woods l like as those dense woods take threads well. Those threads with glue aren't going to let go and are better than pins. Also, you can assemble the whole knife together to determine how everything fits up. l like to get my handle guard fit before gluing, but that's just me. Once everything fits up, you can take it apart and then glue it up. Your pin placement is the most important part anyway.
No l guess an extra 1 1/2 inch won't matter. As for the O1, if l had an oven l wouldn't ever use any other carbon steel. lt is easy to heat treat to get its optimal performance and is superior to 1084/95. Also the canola oil is a good quench medium for it until it gets used too many times. Breaks down and doesn't work as good.
The HT is simple enough, grind blade to 95% finish, pop into oven and heat up to 1200 and equalize then go to 1475 and soak for 15 minutes, quench in 130 degree oil. l might add that if it warps out of the quench you can put on a pair of gloves and straighten it, but you only have about 3 minutes to do it, have a mallet handy for thicker blades. For RC60 hardness temper at 400 for two, two hour tempers. Make sure you get the O1 with the 0.20 vanadium as it promotes a finer grain, but at that percent it doesn't provide any wear resistance, but the chrome and tungsten do. The 1475 is this alloy's sweet spot.
Samarai Stuart turned me on to the check and straighten right out of quench tip. Wished l had known that years ago. l started making knives with O1 and HT with charcoal and quenched in ATF until l found a HT company in OKC where l lived. l might add, warping was never a big issue with O1 if you didn't burn it up grinding it.
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