Professional Soldiers ® - Looking for some knife advice...

So here's the scoop.

I'm looking to get a semi-custom knife made for low production numbers.

Stealing a page from your SF playbook, this proposed semi-custom knife will only be purchased(rather than given...no budget for it) by folks who have successfully completed an assessment course.

Quick background:

Way down here in NZ, we had a fella back in the day named Von Tempsky:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavus_von_Tempsky

He was a bit of a renowned irregular fighter in the bush during the conflict here.

Von Tempsky also carried a big 'ole knife:

http://www.svord.com/pages/catalog/CK-VTB.htm

I've been onto the local knife maker to put together a practical field knife to honour the original Crocodile Dundee sized Bowie, but without the associated loss of practicality and mandatory psych evaluation/funny looks that would come with it.

We carry goloks/machetes now when we need a blade THAT big. :)

The goal is a knife carried by soldiers in a sheath on their webbing useful in a close country field environment.

He's come up with this for retail sale:

http://www.svord.com/pages/catalog/VTR-image.htm

My goal is to offer the semi-custom knife for sale to those who complete the assessment course.

I had the Randall Model 14 Attack and Model 17 Astro in mind when I try to visualize it.

Firstly, we're going to get rid of the brassy hardware due to "why things are seen".

Any thoughts on grip?

Is a wood grip(to keep a bit of old-school look/feel to it) with finger indents easy to do or a major pain in the bum?

Any ideas on how to retain a bit of the old school look/feel but changing the grip to differentiate from the retail knife?

Is there a reason why most bowie type blades don't include a bit of serration at the base of the blade?

We will likely have a semi-custom sheath as well as some paracord.

The knifemaker has been great to work with so far(highly recommended), but looking for some additional suggestions/feedback/advise(much appreciated).

Cheers!