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.