"Once you have lapped a Barbers hone the first impression is that they are more coarse than before. Only the surface texture is coarse, the size of the abrasive grian remains the same. The texture will smooth out with use. You could lap the Barbers hone with the 4K Norton to hasten this process."

Ahh, this explains it! I recently bought a lithide hone and the other night I just finished lapping it and was frustrated as hell because it feels coarse, and most definately does not have the smooth finish that it had when I bought it. I lapped it using an 800 grit hone and then went up a progression to a 6K hone. Should I try polishing again on the 6k hone to get that finish, or should I just start sharpening my razor? Will the lithide hone behave as a fine finishing hone while the surface feels coarse, or will it damage the edge until the polished surface returns?