Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Gosh, I wanted to love this, I really did. I'm a full-time professional jewelry designer, and I set over 20,000 crystals a month,. Anything that can "shave time off the process", I'm there! And this is a great idea. But the execution isn't so great. First of all, when it came out of the package, the black wax tip was nearly cracked in half - not a great start. It was also cockeyed on the bamboo handle. I disassembled it, fixed it up, straightened it out, and got it going. Someone who just wanted to bling their phone may not have the experience to do this, and be very disappointed. Then there's the black wax... It's reallllly sticky. Way too sticky. I've been using beeswax for years, as taught by a Swarovski guru, and it works like a charm (from the Katana copy: "Do you use regular beeswax, but too soft, leaves residue?") I think it's the other way around, sadly: the black wax used here is much too soft, and much, much too sticky. The natural beeswax I use has much better body, and never leaves a mark or any type of gunk on any crystal -the Katana left a black mark on every other stone, and did not want to release stones smaller than 12ss. Which does bring up a caveat - I work with mostly small crystals, 3ss to 9ss, very few larger. The Katana may be better for larger crystals, but it's just not great for the small stones. It's also not good if you have small hands, as I do - way too big to be comfortable in the hand for long periods. It may be more comfortable for an artist with larger hands. I'm taking one point off for the condition it was in when it arrived, one point off for the overly sticky/hard-to-release wax, and one point off for the high number of stones residue was left on, especially when "no residue" is a selling point. One minor point - the small crystal that's attached on the "C" in the logo on the barrel is cute, but terribly annoying during use. If you're overly aware of a tool while you're using it, the tool has failed. I still think it's a great idea. Kelly DeFries, the amazing crystal artist behind it, certainly knows what she's doing - but there may be some kinks in the supply chain going on. If not, it needs to go back to the drawing board. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend it as it currently ships.