Yep, it's tapered. I taper pretty much most of my blades as the flat grind creates a distal taper. The tapered tang balances the knife visually as well as physically with the weight. On the dagger I might gouge out the handle to lighten it further for a more balanced blade.

No work today as the garage is in the teens. The next couple days will be like this with it getting better this weekend. Unfortunately it Navy weekend so I will hope to hit them hard next week.

Jim