Maybe too much stropping on the Chromox/FeOx, or a bad stroke on one of the two? I've read if you go overboard on chromox the shave can get awful uncomfortable. I can only imagine it's easier to go over the top with 2 pastes, or have a miss-stroke in the mix somewhere. Typically those are used after honing or when the blade needs a touch up and not before/after every shave, right?

I dropped pastes from my routine entirely. The only time I use Chromox now is a quick touch up, or maybe to soften a blade that needed more than the standard 4-10 swipes on a barber hone. I just buffed the stuffing out of a bunch of hones, including the Cnat, with a cotton wheel. I can't wait to get blades on them to see what the results from that will be.