Paying >$100 should have resulted in surface being level/"smooth"/consistent--NOT! Riddled with high "diamond-dust" spots, which should have been eliminated at the factory. Yes, diamond-dust is quite hard, very easy to dull/nick extremely sharp, thin blade, in a single pass. New variation on vaporware/dreamware, but instead of troubleshooting it and reporting back to MS after blogging & chatting, spreading-the-word, we want you solve the problem yourself by using cheap knives to smooth-out "diamond" surface....but don't rub two DMT's together--surely that'll void whatever warranty is implied/suggested/intimated/alluded to, or otherwise hinted. It'll be "a while" before my Shun Edo knife is allowed near this thing. My goal was/.(is?) that the surface will stay flat, outlast--and not wear like--stones....Hope springs eternal. ....as long as I'm on the subject of DMT....In re: their line of "polka-dot"/interrupted-surface/discontinuous sharpeners: I own two "interrupted" surface sharpeners. They are touted by DMT as keeping the surface "cleaner". They are cheaper because there is less diamond-material on the surface. My experience is that the holes allow the blade to be nicked. My contention is that the surface is not completely flat/continuous/smooth around every hole; no problem using them on my axes, hatchets, hoes, mattocks, machetes, spades, et al.. When I'm sharpening a $250 knife and it picks up a high--or low--spot that stops the blade, I'm a little exasperated. Not only may it take another 10-20 mins. to smooth out, it shortens the life span of the blade. Why would I want to grind down a Shun Edo knife more than is necessary to obtain a razor edge? Correct--I don't. The Principle of the (likely) man-made/synthetic/artificial "diamonds" is very persuasive. I want all 4-5 of mine to work as I envision them--with flat-flat, level, continuous surfaces. If you have an old meat-cleaver, use that until most/all of the surface is smooth--rub it with your fingers when it's new & unused, again when you've worked on it an hour. If it isn't noticeably smoother on that portion utilized after an hour, the metal has not been making contact with the diamond surface. My contention is this issue is a quality control matter. I am NOT the only person to point this out to other owners/potential purchasers.If there were other sharpeners available that didn't have to be worked-on to make them work properly, I'd be in line for them. Possibly there are; I have only so much time. Hear me, DMT: this isn't a pair of shoes. The break-in period for these sharpeners should be negligible--AND SHOULD NOT DO DAMAGE TO THE BLADE A PERSON IS PROPERLY TRYING TO SHARPEN ON FIRST USAGE OF THE SHARPENER. My XX-Fine continuous sharpener is so flat & smooth, DMT has an arrow on the side to inform which-side-is-which (only one working side). If DMT can do it for the XX-Fine, methinks it can be done for the less-fine sharpeners. Let's go, DMT!. Get on our side--we are your customers!!!