Hello citizens of SRP,

I've been lurking here on and off for about as long as I can remember but I only recently got my first razor a couple months back (from Bob Keyes, thank you SRP for mentioning his name repeatedly, if not for his site I probably would have procrastinated on this for a long longer).

To make a long story short, after my razor got dull following a few months of use, I bought a Chinese 12k from open_razor. It seems like a really nice rock but I don't really know what I'm doing, and I somehow tilted the blade while doing my first clumsy rendition of an X-pattern, which I'm pretty sure wrecked everything because now I can't even shave arm hair. Ok fine, I also took it to a 4000 stone after my first trouble, and then to a 1000 stone, things just kept getting worse and now I'm posting here. Of course, I should have stopped and asked for help before going to the 4k, but instead I ignored the little warning voice in the back of my head. At least nobody got hurt.

I would like to get this thing back into shape because every additional day I pick up the Gillette Fusion I am reminded of failure. Obviously I can send it to a honemeister but I didn't get that 12k for nothing. I think I should be able to figure this out with the right equipment. Also I have some stones already, so I figure I can just build on those, no?

Here's what I've got:

-King 800/4000
-Mizuyama 1000
-Chinese 12k with slurry stone
-Some kind of natural nagura (at least, that's what they called it at the time, I can't remember where I got it but it was sold as a sort of slurry stone, I think. I bought it online when I first got into kitchen knives. I haven't figured out a use for it, but it's nice to look at and makes me feel like a Real Knife Guy)
-Some kind of stone flattener, I think by Suisin (I bought it at Korin, the texture resembles a cinder block, it's flat on one side and has a pattern of broad diagonal cuts on the other)

So my questions:

1. What hones/stones/flattening gear would you buy in my situation? I kind of like the idea of a GlassStone since I've heard those give strong feedback. I suspect feedback might be a good thing considering I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to razor honing. But, I have also heard that the DMT 8000 is really excellent, highly effective, and low maintenance.

2. I think I should get a coarse DMT or Atoma because my current flattener is a bit slow. Would you agree?

3. Should I invest in a loupe?

Hopefully this wasn't too long of a post.