I have a full hollow W&B meat chopper that was my first re-scale attempt. The shank of this blade tapers in thickness, so that it is much thinner where the pin goes through than elsewhere. I could not think of any way to make the blade fit in the scales other than shimming it at the pin with nylon washers to compensate for the missing thickness. But this doesn't look good, and is floppier than I would like (i.e. not enough friction against the shank to hold it open). The floppiness is aggravated by the heavy weight of the blade.

Since these were the first scales I ever made, they are much thicker than they should be & don't have much flex. Would it work if I made new scales that are, say 1/10" thick, so that they can bow outward? How do you guys deal with blades like this?