Hi,
I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

I've sharpened my own knives for about 40 years, and can put an arm-hair-shaving edge on them, and I know that honing a razor is a little different.

1. I've been using a safety razor for the last few years, and I'm comfortable with it, and I get good shaves from it.
2. Bought a Dovo straight razor (5/8) if I remember correctly. Also bought two Naniwa Sharpening Stones (New Super Stone - not the professional). I got the 5K and 12K on recommendation from the sales person. He said my hard arkansas would be fine when the blade gets in rough shape. Also got a Chicago strop.

3. After watching a YouTube video on honing, I did 7 strokes each on both the 5K and 12K stones, then stropped 50 strokes. I tested on my arm hair. It came off clean. Tried to shave w/it, and it dragged over my beard. It was pulling a little, but it wasn't uncomfortable. At the same time, it felt like the blade was actually shaving off some whiskers (and it did get a very few). But generally, it didn't shave much off.

Obviously, I have failed to get a correct edge on the razor, so any hints please? (I'm assuming that when it's sharp enough, it will slice off the whiskers smoothly???) Is there a such thing as my beard is accustomed to the heavier safety razor, and the straight razor doesn't have enough weight behind it? Thanks in advance.

gentisle