Josh, I agree with your theory. I think that the Norton obviously gets clogged pretty easily and is also a soft hone which can become un-flat pretty quickly. Because of those things I think that at least refreshing the surface often will yield better honing results. Everyone seems to agree that it feels better when freshly lapped. I was also thinking about it this way: If you hone one razor, then the hone has wear from that one razor being honed. Therefore when you go to another razor without lapping, the hone won't be as flat or smooth as it was for the first. So this could progress until by the time you are at 20 razors it will be so clogged and unevenly surfaced that it could be hard to hone anything (exaggerating). I know this is like micro changes to the surface and old barbers had significantly dished hones and did alright, but if I can find a way to give me consistent edges I'm gonna go with it. Did I get too confusing here?