I'm all for redundancy, acquisition pretexts, and other mystification...

I'm just not clear on how any consideration other than convenience comes into play before you get to your finisher. I can totally see why guys have a coticule, escher, thuringian, and a pasted strop, and feel a difference between each while shaving, and prefer one or the other according to the razor they're finishing...

But does the hone you used before you get to your finisher make any difference? Assuming there's no microchipping issue, does a razor finished on an escher (after say Norton 4k/8k) feel any different from a razor also finished on an escher but after a 4K–TOS progression?