here, literally just created account to upload these so apologies if pics arent viewable, but made album public so should be able to see them
Hakko - Imgur
(if not, address is "my username without hyphen.imgur.com/all/" without quotations of course)
wow, thought that pic on your original post is the stock one from amazon, if that's how they look new im definitely returning these.
hopefully you can see the tips on the last two pics. first three are of scuffs, next two are of the rusty part holding the cutters together. both were shipped from & sold by Amazon. black protective coating, you talking about the very edge of the cutters where the blade is? damn, only visible on one side, although could be lighting as its evening right now. sounds like they help quite a bit. surprised the xurons don't incluide them, kinda disappointing considering the reputation of the company and mainly cause theyre three times the price of the hakkos (and other than material, what differentiates them from the original pair? that alone shouldn't cost 50% more)