I had ordered 2 stripping knives (fine and coarse) on line and had specified 'right-handed'. I'm using a Mars Coat-King on Eddie and it works wonderfully, but I need to do a little tidying up on a few more delicate areas (face / lower legs). My problem is that the knives are completely foreign to me, and somehow seem like the grooves of the teeth are on the wrong side of the blade - or am I holding the knife incorrectly?

The knife I have:

Do you hold it handle down, or handle upwards? It seems like it would just sheer the coat right off if I pulled any. The blade seems very sharp!

I just love Eddie! He is so patient with my fumbling! (Or maybe he knows theres a cookie waiting when he's finished on the table!) - Although it looks like I've got him by the throat in this pic! Haha!

When I watched the groomer use a stripping knife on Holly she seemed to be holding it upright and just lifting a bunch of hair.

It looked very easy to use. Has made me think about getting one [could save money in long run!] so hae looked at them and they don't mention being left or right handed?

Dang -- my workplace blocks many image hosts so I can't see the picture. Meant to take a look when I got home last night. Anyway, grooves to the back. For a right handed knife, with serrated teeth facing down, your thumb would rest on the flat side. The concave ground area forming the 'knife' at the base of the serrations is to the 'back.'

I think the serrations allow you to lift a number of hairs (much like a comb) and then by holding your wrist flat and pulling your arm straight, you can pull hair rather than cut it. On the RARE occasion when you want to actually cut, you 'break' your wrist to allow the lifted hair to slide down into the serrations to be cut by the blade, rather than just using the long flat part of the blade as a backstop for your thumb. Using a knife is an acquired skill as it seems counter intuitive to use a flat motion when pulling. In normal use you are using your shoulder and upper arms to pull, more than your hands (which are merely pinching).

Update: can see pictures now - your knife looks right-handed to me, as you specified. Enjoy!