OK, Bill, I see the point, I once managed to catch the blade when closed from between the scales when cleaning it closed, that's the main reason I changed the scales to bigger on my meathchopper... As for the scale pins Bill already answered that question, they are tapped, but when you use epoxy to glue the scales, the small pins are more decorative than usefull... Since Bill is modest guy, I'll post the pic from his website, showing something similar:



Nenad