I was using 1/8" pins and I left about 1/16" extra on either side of the bolsters. I chamfered the end of the pins (I read that helps).
Lots of things to consider here. I originally bought a couple of tiny ball peen hammers, a 4 and 8 oz. But I think this is one of those rare occasions where one really does need a bigger hammer.
I'm going to go ahead and order a bigger hammer and give them a more thorough beating next time. I have been using C360 brass for both the pins and the bolster material.
The good thing is that the bolsters did conform to the tang pretty good when I started. I have a slightly uneven surface under the bolster. I sandblasted the tang for better glue adhesion and masked it where the bolsters would go, but this doesn't seem to be visible after finishing.
I cleaned the pins using 320 grit paper and chucking the pins in a drill.
To make the bolsters themselves, I first drilled the tang with 3 holes before heat treating. I cut two pieces of brass from a 1 1/4"X1/4" brass bar. I "lapped" them by hand on a piece of 120 grit sandpaper on the flat surface of my spindle sander table to clean the surfaces that will touch the tang and true them up in case they weren't perfectly flat.
I then used the superglue trick to stick them together so I could bevel and polish the front edge. I just used a drop and was able to knock them apart easily without heating them. I cleaned up the residue by lapping them again before the next step.
After that I took the knife blade and superglued one of the bolsters on and used the tang holes as a guide for my drill press to drill the holes in the bolster. After drilling those holes I glued the opposite side bolster on and then flipped the blade over and drilled back through those holes. So I now have two bolsters with holes aligned to the tang and glued in place. Then I used vide grips to clamp the bolsters onto the tang with a little more force, and inserted the pins and peened them.
Then I glued the scales in place and attached the loveless bolts, followed by the brass pommel "bolsters" at the back. (I'm not sure of the technical name for them.)
I did it in this order because mounting the back bolsters first would have required more care in fitting the scales. This way the back bolsters can be butted up against the scales rather than having to trim the scales to fit between the front and back.
Anyhow, I have a lot of new things to consider and I really appreciate all of your help and insight. I think my second attempt at this will look much better!