Thomas,

Good to see that you had a great fixed-blade experience the other day. I also have never been able to get my razors quite as sharp feeling as a machined blade, the end result with the fixed is still superior.

I just recently had a friend lend me a DE razor with feather and derby blades, and I must admit that they just glide through my beard. The weird thing is was after shaving, my face was very itchy feeling; not irritated, just itchy. I have no idea why this was, but none of this occurs with a straight razor.

In short, my honing skills certainly do not hold a candle to lasers and teflon coatings, but the end result is still veeerrrrrry nice.

Good Luck!