Hi guys! I'm sure you get loads of posts like this, but I get the impression you're all friendly around here =).

I've just started shaving with a straight, after many months of thinking and wanting to. I've got the White DOVO/Rooney Straight gift set from ClassicShaving with a DOVO white-handled "Best Quality" 5/8ths razor.

I've got a whole load of waterstones (Japaneses KING waterstones) for honing other edged tools and could tell that the DOVO wasn't going to shave out-of-the-box. I took Lynn's (DVD) advice and just did a very simple 3-3,1-3,1-5 pyramid on 6000 and 10000 grit waterstones.

I'm used to a Gillette Sensor Excel which, for my money, is the best conventional razor around. (I shaved with my old man's Mach 3 -- with a new blade -- the other day and it nearly ripped my face off!)

So, first shave with a straight this morning, and I did the whole face with not a nick in sight! There was, however, a fair bit of tugging -- a similar experience to shaving with the Mach 3 .. and despite having done WTG and XTG, there's still a fair bit of beard still around.

So, have I just not honed enough? Is this just a dull blade? What sort of pyramid would you experts recommend to get this razor ScarySharp?