Start by carving the handle shape before you even attach it to the blade. I see a lot of folks shape the whole knife first, but that's putting the cart before the horse. You need to feel it in your hand as just a block to find the right curves. Hold that blank and keep shaving it down until it feels like an extension of your fingers, not a separate tool. Only then do you fit it to the steel. It saves so much time and wood.

We had a game of Catan that went like that once. Total mess. Now we make the person who owns the game do a full practice round by themselves first. They walk us through their turn step by step before we even deal cards. It sounds silly but it saves so much time staring at the rulebook later.

Oof, that's a tough spot to be in. I remember feeling totally stuck around that number too. It really does just take one yes, though.