I stopped using pastes, but I think that sometimes its the combination of stones or mediums that brings the desired edge that someone wants. Lately I have been using my Jnat to give that nice smooth edge, but in the process it will lose some of the keenness that I like and a few strokes on my mystery hone will bring back some of that keenness without losing the smoothness. I wouldn't be able to get the best of both worlds with only finishing on my mystery hone alone. I have tried and the results aren't the same. I can shave quite comfortably off of either stones, but combined they take the edge alittle bit farther. I could just be complicating things since I have only honed about 100 razors and still haven't learned every trick with my stones yet, but getting there is the fun part.