Wow, sounds like you're in the ball park. I'd say, do the thumb test very regularly throughout the honing.

I find that the coarser grits really are necessary to create the cutting fins. After that, it can be pretty easy to wear them away too much or even completely with too much work on the finer grits. Of course, any pressure at all will amplify that problem.

If you're not using all diamond pastes, what else do you use? Are all the leather surfaces the same?

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