Hi all,
I'm not really new to SR shaving, but I've only trolled the sights until now for my questions. I sure most of what I have to ask is covered in one way or another, but I wanted to clarify a few things and get the opinions of those of you with more experience.

I've been SR shaving going on 3 years now. I started with and continue to use one of Ken Rup's razors and strops. I sent it to him for honing twice, 6 months after I started, and then again a year after I'd started, then I got my hands on a Nortan 4k/8k and have proceeded to learn honing.

I've always been prone to razor burn, and have found that to get a really nice shave I have to wait about 3 days minimum between shaves to do a full 3 passes without feeling the burn afterwards. I'd accepted this as being my norm until recently when I went on a trip and had to use my wife's DE razor, only to find it shaved so much smoother than I'd ever gotten with my SR, even after having it re-honed by Ken. This was even without my usual full beard prep. Needless to say, this was a bit frustrating after all the practice I'd put into my technique over the years.

In case anyone was going to ask, my shave looks about like this: I strop my razor on the rough side (one of Ken's fili strops with green paste) 16 or so laps followed by 60 on the smooth side. I have used hot and cold water for shaving (currently doing the hot I lather (homemade shave soap with bentonite), scrub and rinse my face, apply vinegar as a pre-shave (I know its a bit weird, but it has drastically improved my shaves from when I don't use it), rinse and re-lather, then do a classic WTG XTG ATG. I finish with an alum stone and moisturize.

Here's my question: Should I chalk it up to a cheap razor that just won't take a good edge? Ken seems to have a good name as a honemeister and he honed it the first 3 times. It was part of an $80 package deal and I can't tell much about it, other than it has Solingen printed on the side, it is a full hollow round point, and I think a 5/8ths blade. I'd say I had sensitive skin, but the DE did such a nice job and had notably less drag and felt much smoother.