Well, at least I'm on a known path! I don't really mind soaking the Norton as I can dump it in a container of water and leave it there for an extended period. The Nani tends to get about a five minute soak as well even though I know it is a splash and hone synthetic.

Naturals are a thought for the future but I'm wary of going too far down that rabbit hole. At this point the idea is to learn to use my synthetics effectively and after that I can think about branching out. The real driving point at the moment is that I just don't like the feel of the Norton 4k and I have trouble defining that outside that the grit feels coarse and loose compared to the solid, silky feel of the other hones I'm using.