Just to update everyone, I took the Henkels back to the stone to try to get some smoothness out of it since the first shave was so harsh. I did 10 very slow x strokes on the 8k, rinsed, and then did 10 more. After that, I took a little VDH shave soap and spread it on the 8k and did 3 slow regular strokes, then 2 slow spine-leading strokes, then one more regular stroke. Then to finish the edge, I did 200 laps on newspaper and 150 laps on leather. All that stropping must have payed off because the shave was incredibly smooth compared to the previous. I didn't get as close on my neck as I would have liked, but I'm also not burnt to hell and back. In fact, I've got no noticeable razor burn.