Unfinished Western knife help

[Hairlesstwinkie]

So I picked up a few unfinished knives(Camillius, Zippo and two Westerns) at my local flea market. I notice the quality of them so I figured for $5 a pop, it's a nice project to tackle. I'm not familiar with the construction of these older knives. I want to put handles on them and I have some birch, desert ironwood, g10, and micarta laying around the shop.

My real question is that when I'm attaching the handles, am I suppose to grind off the rivets and just glue the handles on or bore a shallow hole to allow the rivet to sit in?


Untitled by Hairlesstwinkie, on Flickr

 

[BluntCut MetalWorks]

Bore shallow dimples for rivets would be easiest/best. Perhaps drill a hole for the pivot pin, so in the future, you can peen it tight to reduce lateral blade play.