RayClem: I've thought about getting something between the 1K and 4K, but it seemed most go without. I'll look into it a little more seriously.
Euclid440: Funny you should mention higher magnification. I picked up a new magnifier around a month ago. It's a little higher mag that what I'd been using and has much better resolution. It's helped quite a bit. I like the idea of changing the striae angle on the last few strokes, it should make it easier to see when their gone. Circles...I'm horrible at circles with a razor. I've used circles to set a burr on knives for multiple decades. I've tried circles a couple of times with a razor and I lift the spine like crazy. I'm not sure I can fight that much muscle memory.:D
I've got one of the blades sorted out. When I was getting to a polish on the 8K I noticed what looked like micro chipping. I did two really light swipes on the edge of my 4K and brought it back up. It's ready for a test shave and I'm cautiously optimistic.
The second is fighting a little more. It was looking good so I took it to my strop. Looked good after the canvas, but after 50 or so laps on the leather I saw an area that looked like the edge had rolled. The canvas made it "disappear" and it came back with the leather. I'm thinking I've got a bit of a wire edge :shrug:. My plan is to joint the edge on the 4K and work back up. I took a couple of microscope pics just because I'm not sure what's going on. They are both at about 40X.
The bevel with the damaged area
Attachment 313988
Same area looking straight down on the edge
Attachment 313987