Hi there, I turned down a piece of brass/ stainless. and hammered lightly with a mallet. then drilled the hole to 2.25mm. I tried it with the smaller blade along side and bend the pruner blade over, it did not work I broke it. live and learn,
To lower the blade in the handle, I filed the kick down, cut/filed a notch out of the spring so the top hook of blade would set deeper in. the spring has been bent, ( this took me for ever ) To save having a washer in I ground down the thickness of the spring. I did all this slowly bit at time, as I have never done this before. Something a bit different make a fork out of an old table fish knife.
its all a working progress at the moment things may change its a 12 layer paper weight and growing. looking for more blades to buy/swap and mod. Lots of sanding & polishing to do.