So I've asked JimR way too many times about this and he has been kind enough to respond with useful info every time, but I think it's finally time to stop bugging the guy as much.

I'm having very very inconsistent results with honing on these Japanese stones and would like some help if anyone could offer it. I have a kiita I got from Jim, a Nakayama Maruka with kan (a brown ring), and an Iwasaki choice stone. I got HAD and now I'm testing all the stones out. All of these are good stones from what I understand, so I don't think it's the stones' fault.

I've tried honing 10-15 times on each stone. I use either a piece of the kiita or another honzan slurry stone (that Jim tested and liked) to raise the slurry.

First let me talk about the successes before I move on to my problem. I honed a kamisori on the kiita once and the edge came out good. I'd say around 7.5/10. All I did was raise a milky slurry with the honzan slurry stone, hone the razor at a 50:3 or so ratio, refresh the slurry 2 or 3 times and then work the razor maybe 150-200 strokes on the final slurry. The razor wasn't popping arm hairs ATG above skin, but it did after stropping.

My only other real success was on my Puma 89. It was starting to tug just a tiny tiny bit so I thought what the hell. I first honed it on the Iwasaki with just water, but that made the edge harsh. So I used the Iwasaki with the kiita slurry stone and refreshed 2 or 3 times and honed using x strokes. Then I decided to switch to the other slurry stone and refreshed probably another 2 or 3 times (each time after around 50 laps). The razor pops hair ATG but not quite as well as some of my others (off Dylan's Asagi with just water or off my Y/G Escher). The shave was 8.5/10.

Every other time I've tried working with these hones, it's been a failure. I've tried razors that had bevels that I knew for sure were properly set and been unable to get them to shave readiness even though they weren't too far from it in the start. I've tried pressure, no pressure, back and forth strokes, circles, x strokes (these seem to be the best for some reason) and nothing has really worked. Razors that were shaving but not great and popping arm hairs ATG above skin stop doing so after I hone them in this method. They also stop shaving or get tuggier. On some razors (which were in the sharpness I just described), I've refreshed 5-7 times and then did 200 or more x strokes as the slurry dried down and haven't really gotten a smooth shave. Sometimes the razor is super tuggy and won't shave at all and sometimes it shaves but with some pull.

So that's my problem. Does anyone who has had success with this style of honing have any tips, suggestions, or questions that may help clarify?