Personally, I am not bothered by the scale weight. I like the fact that they are metal


I am pretty sure that all of the stock wapi's have the metal scales.


Sounds like you might need a touchup on your blade, mark777. Although I have noticed that the shave is a bit rougher with a wapi when the blade is right off of the stones. 2 or 3 shaves in, the blade seems to mellow out and becomes very smooth.