Came in earlier in the week. Took a little longer to get because they changed the package, I received these 3 pltes-*PSA plate with smooth red finish leather, *textured leather and diamond cut red finish leather plate, *smooth natural leather and diamond cut natural leather plate.
The steel is quite nice, 1/2 smooth; and the ceramic stick is excellent as well, lacking the surface imperfections that plague my cerahone. The base is well made, with rubber feet to hold it in place on the tabletop.
I barely used it, just to strop my AMK Falcon. I used all the leather plates, but not the supplied Cro, the knife was already shaving and I didn't think I needed to risk the messiness. A few passes on the leather had the knife topping hairs. I also worked the pe blade of my Wave on the ceramic stick, both halves of the steel, and the leather. That improved the edge, which was a little rough in spots. Nothing scary sharp, but I'm pretty sure I'll need to reset the edge for that.
Only problem I had was with the bulky Wave and trying to make passes on the plates while set in the base. The steel and ceramic need to be in place to keep the plate from moving side to side. It was easy enough to just hold the plate in hand while stropping, and it really won't be a problem for regular folders, the Wave is definitely a special case.
Also, as I said, my order was delayed a bit-I emailed to inquire, and received 2 replies with explanation within a day. But I wouldn't have had to send the e-mail if my !@#$$%^ cell phone worked properly, as Hand American actually CALLED and left a message explaining what was going on-without my prompting! Really excellent
