oh trust me, I'll either make it work or bugger it up beyond all hope. I'm good at it! I'm going to work on your suggestions first, if I still can't get it to work then I'll really dig in and screw it all up
I think you may be right about the blade. I tried it out again at lunch, using a new finger, and it didn't want to cut at all. I'll get out the whetting stones and see what I can do.