Honing Stones and weapon coatings are a key element to maxing your character's damage in New World. Forgetting to apply them (or re-apply them) is a rookie mistake that many veterans make as well and forgetting is easy to do as they are often buried in your inventory waiting for you to remember to use them.
New Idea: allow players to attach honing stones and coatings directly to their weapons via slots on the inventory and gear sets. Player's can put a pile of stones or coatings in these slots which will then automatically be consumed (or not; it can be a player controlled setting).