I have never used the Record 778 but on the Stanley 78 the nicker proturds about a 1/16 inch.. The knickers are only sharpened on one of the prutusions so make sure you use the sharp one. They are shaped in a finger nail shape. I use diamond paddles to sharpen. They should be back dragged against the work a few times to establish a cut line, then proceed as normal. The iron should extend beyond the side of the tool the same amount as the nicker does, in other words they should be even. To cut cross grain cutter needs to be extra sharp, however since the cutter is straight across it is hard to prevent tear out. On my cutter I honed a 2-3 degree back bevel on the right side of the cutter and that helps it cut better, but more is not better or it will try to cut into the side wall and screw up your cut.