Wayne,

The diamond plate is about as thick as a credit card. I don't think it weighs much more than the Smith sharpener. It is very ridged. It is made of nickle like a coin. They are perfectly flat so you can get a good edge.

There are many other gentlemen here that can describe how to sharpen a knife better than me.

Here is a feeble effort:
1. Use a magic marker to mark the bevel part of the edge on your knife.
2. On one side tilt the knife until you are wiping the marker off of the edge evenly. You will then be at the correct angle.
3. Stay on one side until you grind the blade all the way to the edge.
4. Keep going until the edge starts to curl. This is the wire edge.
5. Only now flip the knife over and do the same thing on the other side.
6. Once the wire edge forms on the other side then do some light sharpening by flipping it back and forth.
7. The knife should now be paper cutting sharp.
8. Now drag the blade (non edge first) on some cardboard. If you have a stropping leather even better. Cardboard works good.
9. You could now have a knife that will slip through paper by just holding the knife and pulling the paper like me! <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />