Thank Richard, I'll try moderate tapping on the front to see if that starts things. I did just remove the scales (seem to be ebony) to allow a better grip. Also took some dental floss to what gaps exist between blade and frame and MAN there's a lot of crap in there!!! Made the mistake of looking down into the screw hole with a lighted magnifier - yup, some serious "human glue" in there. Let you know later how the moderate tapping works. I think I now know why whomever let this go did so.