Well the Duckling arrived today. It's definately seen some kind of a fire b/c the scales are shrunken and deformed. I have 2 questions for the experts:

1) Do I just cut the pin to remove the blade from the scales? If not, how do I do it?

2) There is dark staining on the blade. The edge seems nice and shiny (just dull) but I'm worried that the temper might have been compromised. How do I determine if it has or not?