Originally Posted by
Bart
I believe you have received good advice so far. It's very difficult to pinpoint from a distance what exactly poses the problem with someone's honing.
It is possible that you fail somewhat on the 4K. The edge of a 1K hone will sever hair rather well. Such an edge carries little teeth that penetrate the shaft of a hair with ease, a bit in the same fashion as a serrated knife cuts tomatoes that much better than a smooth-edged knife of comparable keenness. The problem with shaving is that we want to cut whiskers but at the same time do as little damage as possible to the underlying skin. Hence the edge must be finer than that.
Upon refining your edge on a 4K, the first thing that happens, is that the teeth are honed away, because they reside at the outer limit of the very edge. That explains while the blade will start to appear duller very soon after you start honing on the 4K. But that doesn't mean you are at the maximum keenness level on the 4K.
I also think it's important to remove the 1K sandpaper scratches completely on the 4K before doing anything else.
I don't think Lynn's adage of "less is more" applies to achieving a good bevel. Even if the bevel is sharp enough, having the remains of 1K scratches underneath your 8K & 12K pattern, can get you into trouble. I think "overhoning" is sometimes just that: low level scratches that interfere with a good continuous apex at the finished edge.
The bottom line is: you need an extremely sharp edge off the 4K, that shaves arm hairs with absolute ease. If I understand any of it, it takes only few laps on the 8K (or a pyramid) to add some shaving comfort to that edge.
I think it is important to make the final laps on each hone very light and uniform.