I think taking utopian up on his offer is your best bet. 1) it is a generous offer and you won't be able to beat the price, 2) you will instantly know whether you are the problem or the razor is. Don't put too much faith in any tests: HHT, TNT, whathaveyou... These tests are for pros for use mainly during honing. As you are new unfortunately the tests are even less reliable than your shave test. You maybe 100% right and your technique could be flawless but without experience that can't be a known and unfortunately with two variables we won't be able to give you an answer. Utopian will be able to eliminate all variables except a faulty hone job, and will be able to send it back with a proper hone job which will eliminate that variable from the equation. Art of shaving is a great resource for us straight shavers because it is one of the only brick and mortar stores we have access to. That said I wouldn't trust those the recomend for honing. That's just my experience in 1 AOS store with one saleslady and I hope not indicative of the whole chain.