BKrachmer - Thanks!

I think seeing those pics of my blade really made it sink in to me.

We are accustomed to things in which our sense of touch is good enough. It's hard to imagine scrapes so small you can't even see them taking a blade from shave-ready to butterknife-dull in 30 strokes.

But when I actually witnessed my blade go through that progression, it's kind of hard to deny. And when I saw micro images of my blade with an edge like a saw, well, the evidence keeps piling up.

For me, that was the hurdle. I didn't think leather that felt so smooth could actually be so abrasive to a razor's edge. I'm sure my heavy-handed stropping didn't help a whole lot, but even as my stropping improved as I practised before sending it to be honed, the blade just seemed to get duller and duller. They say stropping isn't rocket science, but in that moment, I just couldn't figure out what the hell I was doing wrong! Maybe I should try it on my head?

It is true that a poor workman always blames his tools, but a naive workman can sometimes wind up with his tools to blame. Hopefully someone else can avoid the heartbreak of having to send away their razor so quickly after getting it.