Hey guys, I'm new to the boards and wanted to say hi, tell my story a but and ask a question or two in relation to my experiences.

I started straight shaving in 2013 with a dovo fortunado 5/8 blade. It did not come anywhere near shave ready so I dived in and bought a naniwa set from 5-12k and started experimenting with honing and tearing my face up. Eventually I was able to hone pretty decent in my estimation. I was able to get the blade to pop hairs off my arm like I was cutting wheat in a field and it had a very audible pop with each one. Considering the blade was full hollow I assume that's part of the "singing blade" mystique and part of the blades feedback. When it came to shaving it was always crisp and smooth on the sides of my face but it was the worst experience ever when it came to the mustache and chin. It felt like I had grabbed tweezers and manually pulled every hair out.

Eventually I gave up trying to hone and shave with my straight and switched back to disposables. But the bug had bit me and I couldn't stop wondering. So I decided to test whether or not my honing wasn't up to par as I suspected and went to a Barber that does straight razor shaves and had the Barber address my 2 days of growth with the proper prep and a brand new blade on his feather equivalent razor.

.... He had exactly the same results with his new blade, hot towels, lather and years more experience that I did with my dovo. In fact he cursed a few times and said I had a really thick beard lol. I was red and got some razor burn for a few days after.

Not wanting to give up I decided to try a larger blade with a stiffer grind and see how that worked. I purchased as a Xmas present to myself a Hart Steel 7/8 custom with barbers notch and satin finish made by Tim VanNorman (I believe his first name is tim at least). And I have to say that it was the most amazing shave I have ever had. I focused on letting the weight of the razor do the work and it literally melted the hairs off my face with absolutely zero discomfort.

So my question is does the size truly matter or do disposable straights and my honing lack where it matters? I'm tempted to have the dovo sent out to be professionally honed and see if that improves things but I'm kinda reluctant to do so since a sharper disposable blade and a shave from a professional Barber with 30+ years of experience were just not right in comparison to the Hart.

Any thoughts?