Thread: Moving on from strop and paste to honing

I've been shaving with a straight razor for several years now. I've come to the point in this process where I want to better develop my honing skills. Here's the situation I want to tackle:

The razors I'm wanting to deal with right now I either bought new or had honed by an expert. I either got them shave-ready myself by using a paddle strop with 1.0 and .5 diamond paste, or maintained them with the same technique. This worked great for a couple of years. However, several months ago I was longer able to maintain the edge I want solely with that technique. Parenthetically, I'll add that this point that I followed this course because it allowed me to develop my skills in shaving first. This has paid off in that am able to get good shaves with a straight. But now, I realize I need to get on with honing on a stone, or send them out to be done. I have chosen the former. I bought the Lynn's DVD and picked up the majority of the proper tools (I hope).

I've followed the pyramid technique using the norton 4000/8000. Then Finished on the Shapton 16,000, then followed that with the flat-bed hone (Hand American) with chromium oxide. I'm happy with the results with two of my razors, but not all.

I'm thinking that the repeated times I used the stop and paste has compromised the bevel on several razors. I base this on the reading I've been doing on the website FAQ. Also, I can see that the wear on the spine is uneven (probably due to my early attempts at honing).

Should I try to reset the bevel and even the spines of these razors on the norton 4000? Or should I pick up a 1000 naniwa or the like? The razors shave without noticeable pulling, but I can sense some slight unevenness in the keenness of the blade, and I know that overall they can be sharper. Should I use the "circles" Lynn demonstrated on the youtube video or another technique?

There so much info now on the website, which is outstanding. It's just taking me a while to digest it. In the meantime, I'm looking some targeted advice might help me along. Thanks!
Adam