Basically you hit the nail on the head there!

Dont get too caught up on getting a razor to pass the HHT. Its totally subjective and varies dependant on the person and the condition of their hair.

To prove a point (and I keep using this story, but I was curious so I tried it out one day!), my Boker Edelweisse, which I got from SRD and is honed by Lynn, wont pass the HHT for me on all hairs right after I've had a shower. It only does some. After a few hours it'll pass it on most of them.

Now for my dad with the same razor, it'll pass with every hair every time. A friend of mine couldnt get it to work at all, no matter what.

The best and, IMHO, the only true test is the SHAVE TEST! If it shaves well and is comfortable, then you have a good edge. If not, it'll need more work on the stones.

If you sit there trying to get the razor to pass the HHT and keep blasting it on the hones to achieve that mythical level of sharpness, all you risk doing is over honing the razor and wearing down the spine. The HHT is a bit of a party trick and is definately not the best way to test your razors sharpness.

So basically, yes. The HHT is not all its cracked up to be!