Quote Originally Posted by gssixgun View Post
Okay you have learned two things here

One: we now know you have a bevel set and the razor is "Shave Ready"

Two, Stop messing with the other hones, stay on the 8k and keep working just there trying to make the shave SMOOTHER

Take all the ideas we have all posted and just mess around with improving the comfort, stop judging the edge on how it looks and switch to judging on how it FEELS

If it feels better then look after the shave

In the wise words of one of our old mentors "The day I stopped using High Magnification, my honing seemed to improve" he might have been on to something
This is along the lines of what I was thinking. Chasing a scratch-free mirror polish at 8k is like a dog chasing its tail. The dog ain't gonna get it, and if he does he may not like the result that much. Light at the right angle can hide or magnify as much as it reveals, there's a good chance mountains are being made of mole hills if the thing shaves comfortably.

That said, I've seen a lot of suggestions, but a few I haven't seen:

Run a hard tool like a chisel or screwdriver shank over the DMT. This will knock off any loose or frangible diamonds if they haven't been knocked off already to reduce chance of contamination.

Lap under running water, and scrub the stone with your finger pads after lapping to be sure all the swarf is washed off the surface.

People say negative space from DMT scratches doesn't effect an edge, I'm still unconvinced and dislike the deep scratches left in my 8K by a DMT. To me those scratches seem like ridges on a file, the peaks and ridges are what does the cutting so a scratchy stone is bound to be more aggressive. I follow t he DMT up with 1K & 2K sand paper to alleviate that issue, and at this point only use hard rubbing stones (Arkansas or Welsh slate) to clear the swarf. Which also ensures there's no 325 grit diamond chunks or sand paper material embedded in my stone. I doubt very much it abrades Arkansas stone silica, and Welsh Slate swarf is probably more helpful than not if any resides on my 8k. You can't really burnish it because it's a soft stone that readily releases grit, but you can make it flatter and smoother which has a similar effect imo. I treat the 4K the same way, neither have seen a DMT in a long time.

And just to reiterate, both the 4 and 8K Nortons come with a gritty skin and honing on that is kinda like honing on a brick. That first 1/16 to 1/8 inch needs to be lapped off before you get to the good stuff underneath. I'm assuming the OP is at the good stuff already, considering they're lapped after each use. The sides should be chamfered too, so you don't nick the edge on the brick like skin that's probably still on the edges.

Insanity is trying the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Try something different, see if your results dont change.