Honestly, I prefer narrow hones. I have the norton 220/1000 and 4000/8000 stones, and actually ended up wanting narrower hones. So I actually cut them both in half to remedy this! http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...w-results.html

My touch up hones are a coticule which is an 8"x2", and a little thuringian which is only about 6"x1". I personally don't like anything wider than 2", but that's not to say there's anything wrong with wider hones. If you can keep the blade flat on a narrower hone, I think it's better than a wider one. It's easier to deal with warped blades, and I feel that all parts of the edge get a more fair share of the honing.

I've read of a lot of benefits of using the X stroke, i.e. for accounting in unevenness of the stone or blade, so I would stick with the X stoke even on the 3" wide hone.

But if you look at all of the vintage hones, they're all about 2" wide or less. So I don't think it's a modern fad to like narrower than 3" hones.