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The blade won't stand up at present, and as I plan to ditch the scales anyway then I'm not bothered about tightening it all up.

Off to read up on scale making now :)

Thanks for the info Glen, appreciated :)
It's just for my interest really, as I don't really like the way they look and will probably attempt to make some from wood myself

Ok, so I did have to look that up, but a paper / cloth based micarta would certainly have the correct texture. Was it in common use prior to 1953 when these makers shut down? I've found contrasting...

I guess that's possible, but they are quite rigid, they really do have that organic texture.
Is that a common material?

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y56/PaddyX21/P1050507.jpg

Not the best pic for trying to answer this question I realise, but I can't work out what they are made of.
It looks and feels like a...