Wow, thanks so much guys, tons of great advice. I'm pretty sure that I'm applying too much pressure. I think there is an expectation or muscle memory type thing around scratching the beard off. Re: sharpness, I *think* I'm ok on that front. After stropping, a gentle test stroke on my arm has hair effortless coming off - I'm just not able at this point to do that to my face (I mean the gentleness), but will try on the next go for sure.

Re: lather, I have used the VDH boar brush with the VDH soap. I have used my Tweezerman brush with Proraso red (tube cream) and with VDH soap. Tomorrow morning - I will be giving TOBS cream a go. I tried 3 different cups and face lathering. I tried filtered water, not a huge improvement. I came to the conclusion that I was far too gentle with that brush in the mug after playing with all other variables. That has helped. Still, I'm not able to generate the giant mug of lather I see some youtube videos on with an "almond sized" dollop. Mine is more like enough for 2 passes - and that's with squeezing out the brush.

FYI our water here is hard, local water report is anywhere from 150-400ppm. I believe anything over 80ppm is considered "hard".