Okay, got them back from heat treat today, and will be working on getting the blade polished so's I can get the scales epoxied on.
I also talked to Jerry Busse, and the word is that I'm not going to be allowed to fill the holes with mosaic pins, since that evidently highlights the feature somehow. So there won't be any holes in any sale items, obviously, although Jerry graciously allowed me to keep the ones in the blades I'm keeping for myself. I'm still going to be filling the holes in these blades with mosaic pins, since I like the idea, and I do want some ornamentation there. I'm a little dubious about the claim that it highlights the feature, since the relevant feature isn't even there any more (compare to inserting a stained glass window into a hole in the wall--it's a decorative object designed to fit precisely into the hole, but does it really call attention to the hole, or does it call attention to itself? I think it's telling that we call a window a window, rather than a hole in the wall, and we sell panes of glass as being windows, not holes in the wall). Out of respect for Jerry, I won't be drilling holes in that area any more, but it seems to me that there's a lot of problems with that argument...
So, for instance, Jerry, if you're still checking out this thread, I'd be curious to know whether it would be fine to inset a mosaic pin into a countersink there. Because while it would look similar to inserting a mosaic pin into a hole there, there actually wouldn't BE a hole at all to start out with for the pin to "highlight," at least by what I think your operative definition of talon hole seems to be. So you end up with a similar look to the one your lawyer says is bad, but there's not actually a hole, filled with a pin or not, by what I think your operating definition seems to be. I'm not sure whether you've addressed the issue with whether or not it still counts as a hole if it doesn't go all the way through, since that sort of definition would prevent people from insetting things like jewels, for instance, in the guard area. So I'd be curious to know what the answer to that is, because I like the idea of having some ornamentation in the guard area.
Anyways, there will not be any holes by any definition in any items I offer for sale.