Yup, they are still really sharp. :-) I'm thinking maybe a lower grit finishing hone might be better. I'm at the point in my honing that .5 paste doesn't make the blade any sharper despite repeated passes, so this may be the problem. It does catch on every single imperfection. I suppose I could try using a much thicker cream. I may try and chuck the barber hones and just use the 8000 on a few blades.