Hi Jon:

You lapped it smooth on 1200 grit wet dry. That's good. Did you draw a pencil grid on the surface of the 16K and lap until the grid was completely gone? Drawing a second pencil grid and lapping until the second is gone (should be quick the second time around) is a good idea.

The other thing that occurred to me: Did you bevel the edges of the stone? Sometimes impreceptably tilting the blade when honing can drag the edge across the corner of a stone making for a terrible noise. A bevel or a radius (I prefer a rounded radius) eliminates that problem.

Otherwise, I'm stumped. I've owned the Norton 4/8 and own the 16k. The 8k is smooth but is not a comparison to the 16k.

Chris L