I had to look at a few of the new product photos to see what you meant. The new version has only one pair of holes for the height position key.
I don’t know how different the hole height position is from the previous version, so can’t say for sure, but my experience is that there’s only a small change from one position to another, whether you use the key or not. I quit using the key a long time ago and I position the blade wherever I think it is the most secure. Obviously, very narrow blades get mounted higher, but I don’t necessarily mount wide knives much deeper into the vise, as the blade is clamped only by the small pads at the upper outboard corners of the vise. Going deeper doesn’t really add clamping security. I haven’t seen much change in the bevel facets with slight changes in mounting height, but most of the knives I do are kitchen knives with little belly issues – hitting a sweet spot isn’t a big deal for me.
I’d say give a few knives a try, where you have records of the two-position key mounts to compare to.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tcmeyer.