I've been working on my four razors for about 2 months with a set of Nortons and a Chinese 12K stone. Two of them were tolerably sharp, although one has a very very large smile to it. The third had a nick that I had to work out and the fourth, a new Double Arrow from eBay has stubbornly refused to become even tolerable.

In the past two days, I've suddenly found myself with four shave-ready razors.

I think (not 100% sure here) that the difference is using a properly lapped (flat) hone. I had been using the Norton flattening stone to do this for the 1k and 4k Nortons, and I had been able to get only parts of the edge close to sharp. Well, the other day, I pulled out my slab and sandpaper that I had been using to lap only the 8k stone. Wow! Big difference! The 1k and 4k hadn't been anywhere close to flat!

The second thing is that I've started using a DMT fine stone to do most of the work. Then I go to a handfull or two of strokes on the 4k before getting into the polishing. I don't know why I didn't figure this out earlier--I'd used this stone to get the nick out of the one razor and it instantly became a pretty good shaver over most of the blade.

It just seems like the 1k and 4k Nortons are slow cutters.

Cliff Notes Version:
1. Make sure the hones are flat
2. Do the bulk of the job on the coarser stones