On your shave experiance it sounds like either improper prep or pressure or both the lack of skin pressure is realy the hardest step to nail down and if you have a realy heavy thick beard you can dull a blade with improper prep ... the steel should hold edge well ... stroping is another hard step if you have a tendancy to lift or roll the spin away from the strop you can damage the edge also you can apply to much pressure when stroping obviously easily apply to much pressure stroping just as shaveing