Because the handle should be low-maintenance, I finished the holly grips with Tru-Oil, which, unlike linseed oil, forms a hard, glossy top coat. The hardware is all brass. I cut the bolsters from 3/16-inch (4.76mm) bar stock, shaped them to the correct profile with an angle grinder, polished the edges, then epoxied them in place for pinhole drilling and cross-section shaping. I drilled flared openings to the pinholes with a Dremel high-speed cutting cone so that the pins would hopefully mushroom to fit these openings rather than forming protruding domes. Once the pins were peened, I smoothed off the faces of the bolsters with the angle grinder, a rasp and polishing paper to produce a flush surface.
The throat and chape are sheet brass, with classic Mughal leaf decoration drawn freehand in permanent marker for a resist and ferric chloride-etched. A soldered tab holds a suspension ring. A few originals I've seen have a cord tied to the suspension ring, which I understand would be used for attaching the scabbard to a belt, but in this case it seems less effective because the blade is very light, causing the whole assembling to hang handle-down when tied to a belt. This is perhaps less important in this application than it might be elsewhere, since it's unlikely that Dad will actually wear this letter opener, but it would be nice nonetheless to figure out a way to make it work anyway. A second suspension ring on the other side of the throat might help; however, I suspect that any system which doesn't involve lashing the scabbard tightly to the belt will be ineffective on account of the balance. The chape has a soldered brass bead for a finial, capped off at the other end with an escutcheon pin; the chape and throat are also soldered up the back.
