After all that, it does look great. I feel your pain; there’s a local knife maker, Arthur Lynn – images[/url] – that often sends me big damascus blades like that, completely unfinished, the edge as wide as a dime. Even with the 50/80 stones, I have to really dig in and work. Using a cross-hatch scratch pattern helps to take the metal down more quickly. The knives are usually weighted very heavily to the handle so I have to take extra care clamping them, especially since they are FFG. Using the foam tape on the insides of the jaws helps a lot. It seems like I have to tinker some to get the knife gripped well, but once it locks in, it stays pretty well. Where you able to get it firmly locked in place after all?