I had a Dovo Tortoise as my first staight razor and after the 7th shave, it just wasn't sharpening up as much as I needed it to by stropping alone. So, I then purchased a 4 sided pasted paddle strop with Chrom Ox. 3.0/1.0/.50 on three sides and a few passes on that did the trick for this razor, which is also considered a beginning razor.

The Tortoise shaved well and was forgiving, but it always needed a few passes on the pasted strop to get back into shape after a few shaves.

It is possible that a light honing is what you need and this is where the pasted paddle strop comes in handy for all of my straight razors.

Others may use touch up hones in lieu of a pasted paddle strop.

Good Luck,

Pabster