Thread: Pearl Nightmare henckels

Anyone who knows me well knows I just love Henckels. I have a 1 incher which has turned out to be too thinly ground for my wiry beard, so I found this #64 with some even hone wear and warped scales in my favorite 7/8 width and stiffer grind. I like fancy stuff, so I proceeded to pin it into some vintage pearl scales.
I like using Babur's collars on pearl as I can oversize the pearl a bit and size the collars so they put the peening load on the liners and spare the pearl. This time, I decided to go with bigs and littles domes over the inner collars. Got away with it on the bottom, chucking the black wedge and substituting a pewter one from a parts razor, but as I peened the top......you guessed it.....CRACK! One panel at the top damaged! I found that the outer domes needed a bit of sanding to keep them from hitting the scales until the peen was tight. Undaunted, I found some pearl, slightly thicker to allow for sanding, and bought 2 pieces. I have now learned to buy more so I can match the pearl better. One piece had some color in it, so I went with it. I CA'd it to the liner and chopped off excess with a dremel cutoff wheel and sanded until smooth and flush. I went to Hobby Lobby and got a lifetime supply of tiny silver wire and drilled out the hole and carefully peened it in. Made the pin hole, oversized the pearl a bit to accomodate the inner collar, and resized another collar and this time, sanded down the back of the domes to where they were not touching the pearl and were nice and flat on the back and not sharp. As I peened, the inner collars crushed a bit and the outer domes rested on the pearl as it got good and tight. Worked out pretty well! I thought I had a decent match, but it seemed the more I polished, the whiter the pearl on my replaced panel got! Maybe time and handling will sort it out. Overall, I feel as I saved it!
Sorry for all the words. I feel triumphant! To the Hones!
Tom