I have a Naniwa 1000, a Norton 4000/8000, and a Naniwa 12,000. I set the bevel then moved to the Norton. I messed up several times before I could even get to the 12,000 so I didn't use it. I used the circle method several times and maybe one time the bevel felt right. I began doing the circle method on the 4000 side and noticed that I didn't lap the Norton stone enough on both sides. The Norton was a new stone. I reset the bevel again and then used the Norton. The bevel was still off. It wasn't the same grade of sharpness all the way up and down the bevel. I know one of my problems was lifting the heel while honing. The toe end of the blade was sharper.

So my method for honing was what Lynn Abrams did in a honing video. 40 circles on each side on the 1000, then like 20-25 laps if you didn't need to do more circles. Then do 20 circles with pressure on the 4000 (he used a naniwa 3000) then 20 circles without pressure. then do some laps on the 4000 then do some laps on the 8000. Im gonna rewatch the video. My question is: does anyone have any advice to give me from when they were first learning to hone? Anything that people do to generally mess things up or things to pay attention to while honing? Also, how do people normally clean their DMT 325? I use it as a lapping plate and it looks like its getting dirty from lapping or there are stone particles getting caught in the diamond plate.