I started honing like your self 4k 8k 12k kitiyama with good shaves but heard so much a bout belgiums so i have now bbw/coti combo and seperate bbw and select coti my combo coti is small kosher.And i have done same methoid as you and to be fair the smoothness was a lot better than my norton , kitiyama 12k. The shave seemed a lot better wheather its a bit decieving because felt much smoother.But i have to say i do love them and like the feedback with slurry. I found the yellow with slurry dulled my razor so much it would'nt shave but 100 laps on water did refine it back to shaving and more so with the bbw coti method.Your coticule is it producing slight slurry as your honing by any chance even still if it is its only going to be fine and that should'nt matter to much. I have just had a chineese 12k for 2 weeks now and i have to say i have used this after my coticule with water and the ch12k to me feels much more silkier and i am realy surprised and i reckon its as good if not better when i have used it shaved of it mid shave i added 20 laps on ch.5 oxide and it diid'nt make any differance reason why ch12k realy does the job i can also say the same about my yellow coti but i think the ch12k is as good if not better but to early to say at least ch12k is not inconsistant like coti i read so much about coticule dulling razors with slurry with out slurry it gets a bit confusing. to me it sound like your yellow is not polishing very well i wonder if it cuts realy quik it might be usful for that.