Went to the Barber again yesterday, and came back with a couple more pearls of wisdom.
It was time for a haircut yesterday, so I took a bottle of bourbon to the shop, AND my tamahagane straight.
The bourbon was welcome, and the edge on the Tamahagane earned me a rare compliment. My honing was, apparently, 80-90/100...a solid B...and he said "You've gotten pretty good!" So, YAY!
During the haircut we bullshitted about this and that, talked about his new granddaughter, and my trip to the States.
Then we got back around to the honing, and he said my main problem now is proper use of the nagura.
According to him, you have to go through at least three good slurries in the honing of a razor. The initial slurry is there to cut quickly, then, as it breaks down it starts to hone and then, finally, polish. So, if you are honing an edge, you have to keep the slurry heavy or you start polishing before you're ready. This is done by refreshing--when the slurry starts to thicken and darken, you add some water and refresh with the nagura.
You do this until the haze from the slurry is even across the bevel of the razor, no scratch marks, no uneven patches, then you let the slurry start to break down and polish.
The key, then, is making sure that the slurry breaks down at the correct time...
And, of course, this clearly indicates that slurry is vital to the honing of razors on Japanese hones.
This isn't just my barber's style, it's related directly to the history of Japanese honing, and the techniques described by Kousuke Iwasaki.
So...it's all about the slurry!
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