If you put a ring around the "claws", it would look a LOT like an actual sword that I saw either in a museum or a movie somewhere - and provide the holder with some decent hand protection as well! :-) I'm not saying put the ring at the tips of the blades - then you'd just have an inverted basket hilt, and loos the menacing qualities of the spikes - I'm saying to put the ring at or just before (i.e. closer to the blade and hilt) the thick bases of the claws.