If I ever figure this out I will be so proud of myself

So I've been attempting off and on to hone (5/8 dovo best quality) it was professionally honed a couple times and the second time I sent it out it came back in less than shave ready condition so I figured it was a good time to learn how to do this myself. Needless to say it has not been going well.
Here's the break down of what of my "method" and how it played out.
1. Set bevel (little miss hap last time not sure exactly what happened but the center third of the blade failed the MMT on one side) 20 circles each side on norton 1k with slurry 20 circles each side with no slurry 10 laps TNT (which I thought was positive but am no questioning that now) 5 more laps. Gradually reducing pressure with each step.
2. Change tape. For the honing part I'm using the norton 4/8 pyramid and just straight laps (slight heel forward) and it goes as follows
20/20 15/15 10/10 5/5 3/3 1/1
3. For the finish I used a technique seen in glens janorton video. My understanding of it is (on a clean 8k) you do laps untill the hone it is dry.
So by the end of my "finishing" stage the feel off the hone was that I had something that was shave ready, very smooth feel water was being cut out off the hone, but when I went to check it on my arm hair I was less than thrilled. The toe much to my surprise popped hair, the heal shaves moderately well unfortunately the center third of the blade won't do squat.
Like a said before I was under the impression that I had a complete bevel before I moved off the 1k (TNT passed) so I'm not really sure what I'm doing wrong.
The only solution that I can come up with is to go back to the 1k till I get a positive MMT and only once that passes move up in the grits, I'm kind of half considering sending it out so I can find out if there is something wrong with the geometry of the blade that I'm not seeing that is preventing me from getting a good edge which I'm reluctant to do seeing as I was really hoping to get this right on my own.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
-Omid

Sounds like you have a little bit of a problem there. I certainly don't want to disagree with Glen, but I believe that simply honing until the stone is dry isn't the most complete view on finishing. Sounds like a great rule of thumb though. That certainly isn't the big problem at the moment.

I was worried that you were doing some kind of Mammal Mincing Test as a test shave. Then I got it, Magic Marker Test (MMT).

I agree that your TNT was probably not a true positive.

I would like to add though, being one of the lesser experience/talented people on the planet, that as I have often progressed up the grit chain on my honing I have usually found that razors are often ready to move up a little earlier than each test indicates. But, I also see no shame in bouncing back and forth.

The key for you at this step is gauging whether you have consistent bite along the nail along the entire length of the edge. I would also check the spine and see if there as been some pressure incorrectly applied to the center while honing. Most of us can tell by a few well lighted pics, if you are digitally savvy.

Good Luck

I believe its not bone dry but, damp with no surface water.

best bet would be to dull it on a glass tumbler with just the weight of the razor on the glass - this is to make sure that when you go to reset the bevel its the new bevel your testing and not the old bevel which hasn't been removed yet - and go through your progression again and see how it is.

Personally I check that the edge will shave arm, or leg, hair at the 1k level before moving up. In this case I would also do as suggested above and dull the edge before starting again.

Definitely dull the edge before starting again. I tried to hone a razor without killing the edge thinking that it didn't really matter. When I shave tested it under my sideburn, it pulled like crazy... hardly cut any hair at all. I went back and killed the edge and then re-honed. The results the second time around were much better.