There are so many stones out there these days and a lot of methods that are successful for different people. I have never been a fan of the DMT's other than for lapping or the Belgium Blue slurried or not.

If I have an ebay type razor or beat up wedge, I have had the most success with the Norton 220 then to the 1000 and then the 4K, 8K and on to the Escher or Nakayama. Sometimes a few finishing strokes with either a .5 diamond or Chromium Oxide too. As an alternative, lately I have been playing with the Shapton 500K and 1000K as well as their 4K, 8K, 16K and 30K. Not the cheapest set up, but very reliable with very consistent results. I do interchange the 16K with the Escher or Nakayama here too. Cotcules are nice, but I have gotten away from using them lately. I stopped doing slurry with them quite some time ago as I felt this was more agressive and I really was looking for more polishing than cutting.

It is rare when I will tape a razor as personally I prefer a single bevel. Normally, if I tape, it is to repair an edge that needs a fair amount of metal removal and I try to limit the wear on the spine. This seems to work pretty well and I can normally get the double bevel out after the initial heavy treatment.

With approximately 15,000 razors honed so far, I really look for consistency and repeatability when honing and the stones described above have worked really well on virtually all the razors that I hone. Yes, some are still stubborn, but varying between the pyramid and circles usually takes care of that. The adventure remains fun and I'm always looking to try new methods and stones although I think I have enough stones now to build a small fireplace.......

Have fun.

Lynn