I'm on my third straight razor shave, and it's really not going well so far. I'm having to fight tooth and nail to get the razor to cut hair. It digs in, it skips, feels like it's tugging the hairs out instead of cutting them, and winds up leaving most of the hair still attached to my face. I'm used to my DE gliding right across my cheek, whisking the hair away. Do I just have the wrong expectations from a straight, in terms of how smoothly the shave should go?

I've read the straight razor tutorials both here, and on Badger and Blade, and I've watched several videos on youtube, and as far as I can tell, I'm doing it right. If someone could give me an idea of what I'm doing wrong, I'd be absolutely thrilled!

The details:

TOOLS: Dovo "Best Quality" 5/8 straight razor, purchased 'shave ready' from Straight Razor Designs
I've got a synthetic leather strop from Tony Miller
Pacific shave oil
Taylor of Bond street shaving cream,
I've no idea what the brush is, it's probably junk, but since my DE shave isn't affected by this, I don't see why the straight would be.

PRE-SHAVE: I shower, then cover my face with a warm wet towel for two minutes. I put on a bit of Pacific shave oil and rub that in.
I strop 50 laps on the linen side, then 50 on the leather synthetic (Tony Miller made, so I'm not worried about quality there). I take my time with the stropping, since I'm new to it. I checked the blade sharpness cutting a neat little patch off my arm, and sliced through a hair held only at one end, so I know the thing is sharp

For the shave itself, I've tried several angels, from 45 to flat against my face. Short quick strokes, long controlled slow strokes, the blade catches and skips either way. If I use no pressure, the blade just stops where it is, and if I more, it pulls like hell.

The blade is removing hair, I've wiped the blade with a finger to check, and there's definitely hair in with the shaving cream, it just feels like it's being SCRAPED OFF instead of being cut.

Do I just have unrealistic expectations about how it's supposed to feel, am I doing something horribly wrong, or is this just a normal part of the learning curve?

Thanks,
Dylan