Bruce,
Your example of taking .008 from the BWT for a first "honing" seems extreme. To remove this much metal, usually they would be reamed instead of honed, but that's just academic to this discussion. The point I want to make is that using your example of taking .008 from the BWT would mean adding .016 to the bore dia. So, a typical .730 bore would now be .746 after one reaming, and a second would make the bore a whopping .762.
I have found that reaming in steps of .005 over bore dia. often cleans up most pitting, and if not, another .005-over usually will. In the first case, you only take .0025 (two-and-a-half thousandths) off the BWT, and in the second, still only .005. If necessary, we could go up another .005 and now be .015 over original bore dia. (.745), yet after three reamings still not have taken off quite as much as your example of one reaming (.0075 vs. your .008). There is a reason bore reamers are typically sold in .005 increments. But you have to remember that reaming x-thousandths from the bore only removes 1/2x-thousandths from the BWT.
All that said, I agree with you and Bill. Really not much reason to fool with it in the first place, and I usually don't.
Jim
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