Losing the Razor's Edge

[jaswarb]

I seem to find a few razors mostly American steel but some Sheffield which can be coaxed to take a decently smooth shaving edge but they quickly seem to dull with use. Half a shave and the razor is noticeably dulling. I can strop them back up but they just don't seem able to run the long mile.

Under the microscope the bevels are good and the polish is fine but I can only get them really sharp after a lot of leather. Most of the time 40-60 on leather off the stones and other razors have a great edge and will shave sometimes 3 times with seeing leather again and then another trip to the strop and they are back full swing.

Would a difference in grit progression or stopping at 8K help in this situation? One I worked on tonight really shaved well off the 6K. The 8K seemed to lose something until I stropped the blade more than usual then the edge jumped up a notch and when I finished on a Thuri I put 200+ strokes on leather to get that edge to improve. It was plenty sharp and creamy smooth but for only half a shave.

Next I am going back to zero and seeing how far I can get the 6K edge to smooth out.
Is it possible for a razor to have no benefit to be polished on finer stone or I guess what I am asking does the edge on some razors finish sharper and smoother at a coarser grit?

IS this crazy and the product of my lacking experience?