I try to look at the belly as a curved section of a ball. (Like the orange peel off a quartered orange). I try to center the belly’s curve with the jaws. For the pictured knife, the belly’s center may be slightly forward towards the tip, from the actual center-point of the blade’s length.
Then working with the depth key pin in the top wholes, with the knife centered to the curve, I leave the spine resting on the rear pin and rotate the tip up off from the front pin. You may even need to elevate the entire knife so the spine is totally up and off both pins. If that’s what’s necessary to clamp it in the jaw tips on the flat spot just below the knife spine, that’s what I’ll do.
A knife does not have to be resting in physical contact with the depth key pins. It makes it simpler to record the clamping position. But as long as you can position an alignment guide in a repeatable stationary position you can still record the knive’s clamping positions for future touchups, that’s all that really matters. The advanced alignment guide helps in these more free form clamping situations.
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