Hi M,
Just a suggestion and it does not have anything to do with my ancient family secrets passed down from generation to generation and now in my head. Get a microscope and look at an 11 then look at your best efforts. This will give you more feedback literally in black and white. The more feedback you give yourself, the faster you will learn what works best and how to get there.
I think a facinating study would be to get ten of the very best honmiesters and categorize what they all have in common and what they do different to reach the same result. Also to identify what they do different to see if there is anything different in the final product.
I thought the project recently discussed regarding using only one cotecule stone to achieve everything from bevel set to finish shows just how radically different approaches to honing there are.
Mike