Hello everyone!

This is my first post here (I've been a lurker for some time). I got my first straight a few months ago and had it honed by Lynn. It shaved wonderfully and I really did enjoy the whole experience. I ended up getting a really close shave with no cuts, no irritation, and no tugging for probably the first time in my entire life.

Now, for the last few shaves the blade had become a little duller (probably from a combination of number of shaves and mediocre stropping technique). So I pulled out a 10K water stone that I use for my kitchen knives and gave 10 X-stroke passes with no pressure. The blade was completely dulled!

I could hardly believe it, but it wouldn't even cut my skin with a slicing motion on the thumb. I figure the stone itself must be bad because I didn't put any pressure on the blade.

So, stupidly, I decided to try to re-hone the think from scratch on a 1k to 6k to the same 10k, which of course didn't work and now my blade is duller than a butter knife.

I would appreciate any advice as to what to do next. I suppose the only thing worse than having a dull straight on my desk is knowing how well it once shaved. AHH.