I've been using my straight for almost a week now. It was honed by Larry at whippeddog. Since I got it, I haven't had the feeling that the razor's been gliding properly. I'm wondering if the blade has been dulled? I had a decent shave with it yesterday, but it was pulling really bad, and has been since the first time I used it. So I took some of the advice I read and was given in another thread. I gave it 3 passes on my barber hone, followed by 20 on newspaper and about 50 on my strop. And then I shaved. It pulled a lot and when I got to the tougher areas (under the chin, center of the neck, edge of jaw) it just stopped dead in my stubble. I stropped again and adjusted my angles and it helped, but there was still pulling and I was left with a little razor burn even though I don't feel like I was using pressure with the blade. After two passes I had to shave again with a Mach3 because I was still stubbly.

I'm thinking I dulled my blade, but I'm also confused because it's been like that since I got it. I haven't had a single shave where I didn't feel any pulling regardless of angle or pressure. Short strokes get stuck too. Is there possibly something wrong with the blade (it is almost 80 years old).

I also noticed that when I looked at my face, it didn't seem like the blade was removing the lather uniformly. There seemed to be streaks left. Is that technique or a bad edge?

What do you recommend I do before my shave tomorrow night to try to make it better?