A "Duh" Moment

I've been making my knife handles by ripping a piece and then matching them back together. Until tonight, I've cut the rough handles, marked the holes in one side...drilled them...then matched the holes to the other half. You can see all the opportunity for error.

I was making a new handle tonight and felt a little silly when I realized I should drill the holes before separating the handle halves.

While ripping between the halves, I decided to change tack and mark out the handle holes.

With the holes drilled I can now cut the handles the rest of the way.

It's all a learning experience, right? It's one of those things that you think would be obvious. I was probably doing it this way because my first few handles weren't matched, and were cut separately. The handles are cut out and are drying on the new knife...hope to finish it up tomorrow.