I did my monthly hone job on my beloved W&B. The first shave was so shockingly mediocre, I thought, "I must not have honed enough to get the bevel back." But then I felt it with my thumb & thought, "Goddamn, it FEELS sharp. Let's not jump to conclusions. I'll try one more shave before I go back to the hone." Guess what? BBS. The shave of kings.

Why is the first shave so bad? It's almost like it's "too sharp" or something...instead of gliding smoothly across my face, the edge wants to skip & dig in. But all it takes is one shave (plus 50 laps on the strop, of course), and that nasty, uncivilized edge smooths right out.

Anyone out there with a microscope know what's going on? Would it help to do a double- or triple-round of stropping after honing? At the moment, I only do 10X Cr02 and 50X plain leather after honing, the same as I do before any other shave.