I recently started using my old strop and stone paddle similar to the one here:
http://premiumknives.com/ShopSite/PK...ne_Paddle.html
The stone is just a piece of slate and actually I got very nice results with them.
I have never read of forum members that use a piece of slate.
I just wondered whether any of you guys tried one and what results you got.
It is actually a very sophisticated thing this paddle because the leather is actually padded according to one German site. Unfortunately I did not save the URL, sorry for that. Mine is a cheaper, non padded version that I bought when I was a student.