What was the point?

[Knight of Gondor]

Well, having been redirected to this thread, I'll just go ahead and post my original thread that I posted.

One of the flaws that people have brought up in the comparison between the movie and book is that Aragorn carried one sword of his own BEFORE accepting the Shards of Narsil. In the book, he carried only the shards. I have been a defender of this move, as it made sense for the Ranger in Aragorn (still wandering in the wild) to have a real sword for defense, etc., instead of a broken hilt. (That, and it gave us another beautiful sword to look at!)

But why DID Aragorn carry around just the shards? Where were the other bits? Were they arranged perfectly in the sheath? Did he just upend his sheath to dump all the shards out on the Elven smithy's table? Were they in his pocket, and why didn't they cut through? Did the 800-year old heirloom of the house of Elendil spend some time digging in the dirt to make a convenience hole for "Strider"? Why would such an important token be given to Aragorn to cart around the Wilds with, and how did he survive with just a dagger-like blade?