Mark, thanks for the tip. Quite a few of us use Norton 4k/8k to quickly remove old corroded steel and establish a new edge on an antique blade. After that, we move onto a finer polishing stone that cuts slowly and/or a pasted paddle strop. As for the Japanese stones, I have 2 of them (4k and 8k) and use them for some of my honing needs. A decent number of us do. However the Belgian coticule is my finisher.