mparker gave ya great advice. you can get a shaving sharp edge off your 8k norton but many many of us prefer the feel of an edge that has been refined further on a finishing hone / pastes.

i think i was like the first person to buy one of Tony's 2sided bench hones (smooth smooth), and i obsolutely love it. its just like a pasted paddle but its wider(3inch x 10inch) and it lays on the table and you use it with a stropping motion. easy as pie.

i pasted mine up with 1.0micron and 0.5 micron diamond pastes. those are prolly the most versitile and highly used grits to paste with. i used diamond pastes, others here use Chromium oxide (0.5) .. some use boron oxide ? (1.0). whichever you prefer or can get ahold of you can use to paste.

my personal take on the blade edge after this refinement. i was stopping after a 12k chinesse stone. and the edge was very nice and smooth, but after i took it to the 0.5micron side of my bench hone the feel was velvety. that small refinement took the feeling just that much closer and comfortable. we strive to enjoy our shaves and this bench hone really helped mine. i'd strongly suggest one for all the above reasons.

they are 22$'ish and you mentioned that it wouldn't be a problem to buy one so go for it. they make touch-up honings so simple also. takes 1minute or less to touch up your razor after a week worth of shaves.

~J

(ps. i have not use an escher,thurigen, or corticule so i can't compare. im not trying to say one is better then the others. just that the bench hone is much cheaper and amazingly fast/easy to use)