What would you do?

[prodigy]

hello everyone. I picked up this little guy on the bay. I have been working on hand sanding it to get a uniform finish. a previous owner had tried sanding, or somehow scratched the hell out of the top half of both sides of the blade. its not perfect, but it is a lot better than when i started. The scales appear to have been cracked due to someone forcibly closing the blade with way to much pressure. My main question is should i just finish up polishing the blade and let it be, or take it apart and slap on some fresh scales? I have recently started doing my own restoration work, and have some nice slabs of horn to choose from...