Well, not to throw a wrench in the gears, but the type of hone used will have an effect on how the edge develops.

If I use the DMT C to set a rough bevel, then move to the DMT E to bring it up to a sticky sharp edge that could pass the HHT, then use the DMT EE to further refine it, then move to some .5 diamond paste, the result is generally a consistent march from dull to frighteningly sharp with no apparent steps backwards.

The Coticule on the other hand abrades differently and provides much smoother results, so your observations may not be repeatable with the Shaptons. (don't know if that made much sense...)

Also, the striation do have a function for most cutting utensils. An 8k grit polish will sever tomatoes like butter, but the softer steel of kitchen cutlery can't maintain that kind of fine edge, so you loose that cutting ability rather rapidly. If you stopped at say, 1k, the edge would last a little longer and the tiny serrations would give a similar cutting power to the 8k (for culinary applications, not shaving).

(for the record, I generally don't even bother with the HHT until I get past 8k, TPT works faster for me)