Well, I finished step 2: the scales.

open
blade
stamping
closed 1
closed 2

I had a sheet of 1/8" plexiglass and decided to see if it would make decent scales. Stuff is cheap, and I needed to learn, so I didn't have to worry about ruining it. It felt a little flimsy, but once I got everything together it ended up sturdier than I thought and I'm quite satisfied. Though I'm sure some sort of acrylic would be better.

Glad I took the time to learn on something more or less disposable. Was very easily reminded what a pain in the ass it is to work with superglue I decided to glue the wedge instead of pin it. I did this because the glue fills all the striations left from sanding and left the entire back end transparent (except of course for the spots I missed ). The blade also sits very well in the scales. Comes in almost dead centre. I figured I'd need a shank pin (or whatever it's called) to help restrain the blade, but it turns out there's no need. Despite using the original scales as a template, my scales seem to be just a tad big. Ohh well, lessons learned.