Originally Posted by
Chris L
Have you tried stropping the razors that stop performing for you in mid shave? If so, has that improved things? I share a similar beard with you as do many others here. If my razors aren't extremely keen, edges that remove whiskers with ease on my cheeks and neck can actually get stopped by my chin whiskers and require a different approach (short micro passes, different and alternating directional approaches, etc). IME, edges that crap out mid shave are either under or overhoned. At this stage in my honing, they're almost always underhoned. They don't pass the shave test. They're not ready.
Interesting theory on strop aligning an edge before bringing it back to a polishing stone for refreshing. Can you experiment with this and go to the hone without stropping, test shave and tell us if you feel any measurable difference?
Chris L