I'm not sure what you guys are talking about. I've lost track of how many edges I've honed, probably about the same number as you have, over a longer period of time. I've only been honing for 5-6 years but the first few years were sort of apprentice-ship type honing. I got one or two samples of each type of blade that was out there and studied them, but I've only had maybe 100 razors come through my house. I have two experimental razors, one carbon and one stainless that I've honed hundreds of times over just playing with different techniques.

I haven't had any honing revelations in years. I think the last revelation I had was when I noticed that adding pressure while honing damages the spine. Oh no, I take that back. About 2 weeks ago I noticed that bevel balance was an important characteristic of sharpness and its impossible to evaluate balance on a microscope. I remember thinking "Geez, I've got to find a test for that".