tonyspurs,

The answer of Norton waterstones to all our questions both personal and scientific is semi adequate for me. When reading the various discussions about what stone to get for sharpening razors, I decided to follow the advice of most and ordered the Norton 220/1K and 4K/8K combos. Recently, I jumped into honing with both feet and took a old razor with a nasty nick and honed it down to where the nick disappeared and then worked up the grit path. I noticed that the appearance of the scratch pattern from both the well lapped 4K and 8K sides of my hone seemed identical through the Radio Shack hand held microscope. Only when I took the razor to my coticule stones could a see a reduction in the apparent scratch depth from the Norton stones. With a very light touch on the dry yellow coticule, I got a smooth appearing bevel - and one that shaved. The Nortons for me have not worked on finishing the edge. But I'm just starting in at this process and know not much of what I speak.

Bruce