I got my Dovo Astrale, had it honed by Lynn, and stroped it, and used it.

And bad technique.

And after a few tries, I destroyed the blade. Then I attempted to re-hone it after a month (myself), and bad job of that yeah....

So I bought a Feather AC RG. The blade on that thing gets replaced every so often (so rarely), so no problems there. I can destroy blades as much as I want until I get it right.

And I have!

...

But that blade is so f@$*I*@$ harsh! It ALWAYS cuts me! It glides over the skin and then my face gets peppered with little red dots. My neck takes a beating from the thing (oddly, it shaves the neck with less pain than a DE... cuts the hair so easy).

The Astrale, as hard as it was to use when I started, couldn't cut me. It didn't even give me razor burn. Way, way better than the Feather.

At this point I can get a decent shave with the feather, though not without plenty of blood showing. Think it's safe to have my razor honed (or try my hand honing it myself on the Norton 4k/8k?) and try again? I just bought a Chinese 12k wetstone that I'll likely use with lather to fine-polish the blade, or perhaps an oil? I'd be tempted to use mineral oil (the laxative?)....