...And it was a nice shave! Not the best, to be sure, but very acceptable. Here is the razor in question, a 6/8 Wade & Butcher Celebrated Hollow Ground:

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I tried honing it yesterday, but failed miserably - couldn't get the bevel set and then wasted time hoping to fix it with finer stones. Yes, I know that will never work!

After deciding that setting the initial bevel was the problem, I found gssixgun's videos on honing smiling wedges and that gave me the confidence and techniques to try again this afternoon. My progression was 1k King>4k/8k Norton>Coticule. I used one piece of tape, changing it at every stage as per the videos. Everything went really well, needed to do a little work on the heel area, but it all came together in short order. No issues at all with the Norton, and almost decided to stop at 8k then give it a pasted strop before shaving. However, being a pushy bastard, I decided to finish with the coticule after all (just received it from LZ6 and had to use it!). The main issue here is the size of the stone, which is 2-3/8" x 4-1/2". Being too small to fit in my holder, and not trusting myself to hold it in my hand, I tried resting it on top of the Norton - which worked just fine. Taking extra care not to run off the end of the hone, I started with a very light slurry and diluted down to plain water. Didn't keep track of the number of passes, etc. but I could tell when it was done. Everything looked and felt good, it was popping hairs the entire length of the edge.

Stropping consisted of sixty strokes each on linen and English bridle leather. The test shave was with Trumper's sandalwood cream, followed with Baume.be balm. Very smooth, no pulling, no irritation. Three passes (WTG, XTG, ATG) and spot touch-ups, BBS out of the gate. Considering the frustration I had with the same razor yesterday, I'm extremely pleased with how everything worked out today!

Extra thanks to Lynn, gssixgun, and LZ6 for giving me the tools and guidance to make this happen!