Either my choice of moniker was prophetic or I may need more time on the hone. I was able to get my cheeks relatively smooth, but the neck and chin was where it all went awry. At first I thought I had sliced off a steak but quickly realized the pain was from hairs nearly being wrenched from my flesh. Those that didn't cut just bent obscenely or caught and pulled the skin upwards. No blood at least.

My thinking is that I simply didn't hone the blade enough. The blade I started with was rather dull with some minute chips. I took these out and established a bevel at 2k grit, then used a carborundum 103 until the blade passed the fingernail test (I started testing while the blade was dull so I could get the feel). This morning I stropped with linen then leather before I shaved my cheeks and plucked my chin like a chicken.

Am I correct in thinking that bad stropping technique would have prevented me from even clearing my cheeks? It may be that I had just the barest of edges going and should have kept honing. The 103s don't cut terribly fast, so going from 2k to a shave should probably take more than the 60 or 70 passes I took. The last 20 or so were on a wet then lathered hone. Any thoughts?