Maybe I'm just making this all up in my head, but if you don't hone enough, the walls are too smooth and your rings don't seat well. Conversely, if you hone just the right amount, but smooth the edge of your rings, your rings and cylinders might glaze over before they seat. Seems like you need the correct amount of honing and correct edge on the rings to get both to "mate together" before they are too smooth. That's what I was saying above, maybe you honed the right amount, but because you smoothed the rings they both polished up before they mated perfectly, thus needing the baking soda to roughen everything up to have more "wear together" time.