Hello all,

I'm brand new to the forum--signed up specifically so I could ask this question.

I'm pretty new to shaving, I have a Dovo straight and have been using it for about seven months with pretty decent results. My problem is this: I very recently bought and old barber's hone (a Pike Koenig) and cleaned it up. I had been using the Ichabod Conk water hone that most people here will probably bash me for even thinking about...but I was getting decent shaves with it, not spectacular, nothing close to that effortless, no-pressure-applied perfection I should apparently have experienced by now . I've tried honing on the Pike hone, which is much finer than the other one, but here's the catch--the seems to be dulling the blade. I've done it several times with the same results--pulling, missed hairs, really REALLY bad razor burn. Is there anything that might cause this--over-honing, wrong pressure, just a bad or dirty stone? Any input would be great. I'm almost ready to give up and try a shavette, but I'm hoping you can all talk me out of it.