I tried tightening up the peined "rivets" at the butt end but they were too hard
to be moved by my ball pein hammer. Instead I shifted the leather discs around
to even up the spacing of them on the handle and am figuring to soak them in
something to get them to swell back up to size. They seem to still be pretty
pliable. I worked the surface of the leather handle a bit with some coarse
sandpaper to open it up. I'm wondering what would be an appropriate material to
soak them in. I can see not wanting something that hardens and makes the leather
brittle, but not something that makes the leather soft and fragile either. A mix
of mineral oil and linseed? Maybe top that with shellac or something.

I have a can of "neatsfoot compound" but as far as I can tell it's just mineral
oil of some kind. It leaves leather smelling permanently like used motor oil.