Just one other thing I want to mention.
The ceramics have a learning curve ... very hard to explain, but I do hold them .. how can I say .. thinking with the center of the paddle.
If I'm off with the diamonds just a bit or twist, I done hear or feel a difference.
But with the creamics I do concentrate and focus a bit more and think shooting straight centered if you understand what I mean.
If my hands gets lazy I can feel it and hear it, but the rubbing cuts the problem down for me to a minimum.

I'd be a bit afraid hitting them with a coarser grit as I'm anal on transfer and cross contamination.

Maybe mark's point of the corners applies to the edges also, as when I rub, its not just flat and even up and down, I move some side to side to get the edges .. almost like deburring a blade if you get my drift. Just a few up and down with an ovelap on the edge.

When you rub them, you can hear the abrasive area go away and feel it, it transfers to your hand.

That said, they are my go to paddles at the high end. For convex, they are great once you get the first level to polish point. Smooth runnings at every degree afterwards with just the creamics.

Hi,
Yeah I am getting white powder off of them. Actually when I first unwrapped them I had to wash them off because they had a good bit of white powder on them. I have tried lightly rubbing them together a few different times and they dont seem to be getting any better. I think I will call WE today and let them know what I am experiencing. Here is also some pictures of the "pitting" I am seeing on my stones. At first I thought it was just different colored flakes but upon using them and closer inspection it started looking more and more like pits in the stones. Also im not sure how much or how fast they should be filling up with metal shavings but they were pretty black so I washed them lastnight with hot water and a little dish soap like I do with my diamonds and the 1200 grit stones started fizxzing out of the pores of the stone. Almost like I had exposed baking soda to vinegar.

Anyhow here are the pictures.

I received my 1200/1600 ceramic paddles yesterday after being on back-order for a couple months and have the same experience ... pitting and lots of white powder.

i took two strokes and got enough white powder to think I was going to slice off the stone completely after 50+ strokes

very unlike the old-school ceramic sticks I had for years from syderco which were very smooth with no pits.

was going to ask the group if this was normal and found this thread.

Mine are the same .... but they appear to be no different than the rounded ceramic stones. Therefore, I assumed that is the way they are supposed to be. They seem to work fine ... I just re-profiled my Spyderco LionSpy today and they worked fine. Produced a beautiful edge that push cuts phone book paper with just the weight of the blade (though I have to admit ... the LionSpy has a pretty heavy blade!). It would, however, be nice to get some clarification posted here if the ceramics are supposed to be like this. As pointed out ... they are definitely NOT hard and smooth like the ceramic rods Spyderco uses in its system.

I just washed my stones and gave them a bit of rubbing and still to my dismay they are causing chipping in my blades, definitely not smooth as butter. I even have broken them in on older knives and still running into issues. As mentioned by the original poster I have lots of little pockets in the ceramic, including the sides, which seem to cause some issues. However I am no pro sharpener and lack the experience that many of you have. It seems that if I do not have the paddle perfectly flat up against the blade that it sounds like i'm taking 80 grit right to the edge of the blade and bam all my hard work is ruined by chipping caused by the stones. Is this my fault? Do I just need a more steady hand and practice? I appreciate all the advise so far!

THANKS!

Pitting is the same on mine. I can't see that as being a big deal as the paddleis traveling vertical and horizontal.

Only advice I can give is try how you stroke them, play a bit a listen if you hear a smooth pass and try and replicate it.

Just received my ceramic paddles 1200/1600. My problem is that they are so soft that large quantities of powder appear when you sharpen with them. Especially with the 1200. You can see a large quantity of powder building up on the edge of the knife. I have used them about 12 times and already they are way out of flat. If you put a straight edge on them and a light behind you can see how much they are curved. At this rate they will be useless real soon. I had asked about flattening them and was told that I would not need to as the people at Wicked Edge had been using theirs for a long time with no problem.

Hey Bud

I had the same problem i.e. lots of white powder. I stopped after 2 strokes on each side and figured something might not be quite right with these.

Hey Road Kill

Just got off the phone with Kyle, give him a call.

Yeah, that is definitely not normal... mine are completely smooth and hard-I.e. no powder or pitting whatsoever. I guess clay must be out cuz he definitely would have picked up on this thread and more than likely told you guys to give him a call. Definitely would call Kyle if I were you guys.