Be careful what you wish for! I would be investing my money in a strop business maybe, since a surge in the popularity of straights would undoubtedly be accompanied by a million mutilated strops! On the other hand, it would not take the electrical goods industry long to come up with a honing/stropping machine giving faultless (think of the laser-guiding system in a CD player) results. Settings for carbon steel/stainless + holes to replenish diamond paste/CrO2 etc. etc. Plonk it in and dial interactions up, like a bread machine. Interested ????