You can shave perfectly fine off an 8k stone. I love my old Sheffield razors at that level and often I simply use an 8k shapton (I do not use a Norton anymore) to refresh all my razors, for extra smoothness I might use an Escher after the 8k and very rarely a 16k or 30k hone (those are mainly for other people).

many older people only ever used a barber's hone or a coticule

enjoy,
jim