Great article Sir Bart! I have said all along your mastery of the English language is superb, even your grammer is better than most Brits! and this thread is awesome too, I can see it becoming a very educational source for many. :thumbup:
O.K I have trouble with drying slurry too, and always work with a small water bowl on the table, I believe if you are not quite fast at honing and, have a stone with a large surface or live in a warm or dry place, thats to be expected. I find if I am working to remove a lot of metal e.g. after breadknifing, then letting the slurry thicken up so its almost like toothpaste is ok, but if I am looking to shave arm hair I have to add a drop of water now and again, thick/heavy slurry causes a duller edge for sure. the garnets will hit the actual 0.5 micron cutting edge and dull it off, perhaps thats why a BBW leaves a keener edge on similar slurry? the garnets in the blue stone are a little smaller are they not?
Also when working with just water my beloved coti starts to make a very fine slurry off the action of the blade alone, and I like that! it gives a little more feedback however, I will add a drop or 2 of water if I start to get too much "action" as this again knocks back the edge a little. and I never get a sticky feeling, only a little bite or a smooth glide depending on the stage I am at. I do really notice the difference if I add a tape layer, not just from the tape drag, but from the smaller surface of metal working on the stone. The feeling is hard to describe but its there without a doubt.
What catches me out time and time again is once the bevel is set, the amount of pressure has to be kept very light, all the time I am thinking "this aint doing shit" but it is! it came to me tonight when I was working on my bent bladed G Forzly&Co, I realised that I just polishing the bevel so I compared the action of the blade on the stone to that of using polish on a cloth, where by you use little pressure but do a lot of strokes, and it was like a switch going on! it was a little more involved than that and I cant put it into words but I do not doubt it was a little mental breakthrough (No Sir Bart NOT Breakdown!..lol)