Since my last post, I've made some strides in honing. I got the Chinese 12K and tried it in a 1K, 4K, 8K, 12K progression. The subject was a Greaves razor that wouldn't cut arm hair.

I went slow, minding my form and after some time was rewarded with a sharp razor. A light stropping on balsa with .5 diamond paste then on both linen and leather on a hanging strop finished the task. A test shave showed no pull and ATG was without effort.

I found that one can read and watch all of the videos you want, but until you hone a razor it's all academic.