Well, I have taken the first few steps down the slippery slope of shaving with a straight razor. I have picked up 18 razors in the last couple of weeks (they seem to be raining on me). I picked up an old but new (never used) Henckels Platinum 401 for $6 bucks, stropped it, and it passed the HHT. Thus, I have been using it for shaving. I turned to the Bokers to get them up to snuff (a King Cutter and a Red-Injun). However, it can't seem for get them honed and up to the standard of the Henckels (I have Norton 220/1000 and 4000/8000 waterstones). I used the the pyramid as set forth on the forum.

I figured that I was doing something wrong, so I bit the bullet and honed the Henckels tonight to see if I would kill its "shave readiness" due to my "newbie" bad technique. I didn't. I did a short pyramid (failed the HHT after the passes on the 4000) and it started to consider passing the HHT after the pyramid. Then, I stropped it (passed the HHT) and it shaved the same as always.

Okay, that was a long story to get to the question. Do different razor brands have quirks with regard to honing and stropping? or is there something that I am neglecting? or do I just need to suck it up and keep practicing?

Thanks!