@Wintchase,

I have several swaty's and like twogun said, it seems they get smoother with use. Having said that, I agree with you in that if I have a razor that is pulling a little, I can and do use my 8k as a touchup stone just the same as I would with my Swaty's. I have had dozens of barbers hones, literally had close to 50 at one time. I collected them long before I learned to hone on a reqular basis. I now have the full set of honing stones, from a 800 thru to a Naniwa 12k, so my barber hones hardly get touched, except to show them off or as trade materials.

Rene (nicknbleeding) did a test with a bunch of barbers hones that I sold (and traded) him seeing if a suitable edge could be obtained strictly honing a razor on nothing but barbers hones. He was successful, and showed that it would be completely possible to use varying grit barber hones to take a razor from dull to shave ready. Not to say that it would be overly comfortable, but very doable.

In theory, if you used your Norton 8k as a barber hone, you should be able to achieve similar results with just 5 or 6 passes on it to strictly 'refresh' the edge. If it is a shot razor, you won't have any more success with the barber hone than you would with the 8k without a whole lot more laps.

So to answer you directly, I don't believe there really is a difference, only in the approach to the stone. One is considered part of a full honing regimen, where as the BH is considered a quick touch up stone.

As in all things, YMMV, and this is only my opinion on this.

M