Thanks for the responses.

I do have some shave ready razors. I've compared my bevels to theirs and find that they are sharper (who would have guessed?) and that the bevels themselves are shorter (that is, the distance from the edge to the end of bevel is much less than on mine).

I'm guessing that I used too much pressure early on, and my latest attempt was much better, partly because I used tape. I use tape primarily to protect the spine. Although this Clauss is becoming a practice razor, I am treating it like I would a better piece of steel.

Now, if bevel-setting is my problem, what's the fix? When I move on from my 1K Norton, there seems to be a fine bevel under 10X magnification. There is no edge blunting, no wire edge, no rollover and the edge passes the TNT all along the blade. I am not interested in going through the progression without first establishing a proper bevel, but what else is there to do? Before I go to 4K, the 1K edge is passing the TNT and is quite sharp. I believe that is the sign that the bevel is good.

So what am I missing here? What can I do to get better?