Yep, good advice on this thread. Now for the reason why. If you don't get the keenest of edges on your blades for the entire length of the blade all you will be doing w/ the 12k or higher hones is polishing the bevel and practicing your strokes. Actually your first hone should get the edge as sharp as possible w/o burrs. every other hone used will be polishing the edge to a finer level. If you don't get the best edge on your coarsest hone you probably don't have the patients to get there with the next hone because it will tale much longer w/ a finer hone. using a 12k or finer hone on a razor that doesn't have the keenest of edges or has an edge with a burr will not improve anything more than the shine on the bevel and the quality of your strokes, if your paying attention to what you are doing. Good luck with your new hones. You will find them useful for many years of honing. I shaved comfortably off an 8k Norton for quite a while back when it was the standard finishing hone on SRP.