WOOHOOO! In about an hour I was able to get four razors to pass the HHT off the 8K side of the Norton. My jury-rigged diamond balsa strop and the 1 and .5 micron pastes have my razors sharper than I've ever gotten them before.
I almost didn't start this thread this morning, because I thought, "What will I learn that I haven't already read?" Well, it made all the difference.
Here's what I learned:
-The razor should pass the HHT (at least with my hair) off the 4K side of the Norton before moving to the 8K. I did about 10 light strokes to get it to that point.
-I need to do more strokes with more pressure on the 8K. I did 25 strokes with a good bit of pressure--haven't been able to figure out how much "two time the weight of the blade" is--using enough pressure that I was sure the blade would stay flat.
-After that, five to 10 very very light strokes puts the fine edge on the blade. After that it was passing the HHT pretty easily, although on some of the razors the hair was still "popping" instead of just slicing cleanly.
-Pivoting the handle about 1/8 of the way closed makes it much easier to keep the blade flat.
-Standing at different angles to the stone makes a difference. I have so much practice now with the side-to-side motion that it's actually easier for me to control than a N-S motion, but for the strokes with pressure the N-S is better.
Thanks Alan and everyone else. I'm not at honemeister level yet, but I think I'm making progress toward that goal. You guys are incredibly helpful.
Now I can put my Norton away for a while and work on my shaving technique. Yippee!
Josh