Straight stone is a heavy block with a very thin layer of abrasive that wears off immediately and never completely straightens any of my stones. I've used it twice and it's time to throw it in the bin. This is by far the lowest quality product I have ever purchased from Revain and I immediately had to purchase another stone to do its main job of smoothing my stones. There's nothing special about my stones. I have a 6000 grit ceramic blade and a 600/1000 grit dual steel blade (very common cheap sharpening stones, also bought from Revain). I started at 6000 and before 1000 he was dead. The sling works fine. This is a piece of leather with a kind of white putty composition. It doesn't stick very well, but it sticks well to the stone. You can glue it to a piece of wood or whatever.