I keep honing on the 8K until it shaves perfectly. I see no reason to go to pastes or get creative when an important step is not right. I would never go to a paste if 8K isn't working right. If I wanted to get more sharp then 8K, I'd go to my 12K and then to my .5 and then to my linen impregnated with fire ash. But I don't do any of this stuff and just stop at 8K mostly because it works.

I do the same thing to every razor until its done. That is probably a more simplistic and ineffecient method, but it has worked on every razor I own. Luckily, I have no aspirations of going "pro".