40yrs of honing before SRP
Ya know some of us old timers managed a pretty damn fine shave long before we had access to the items available here. I used to get a bevel on a really fine carborundum, then a hard ark, trans ark, and my old strop. Used williams soap; still do. Spent time doing the prep and had great shaves.
An old dog can learn new trick. I added a norton 4/8, .5micron chomeOx, .1micron diamond spray. Is the shave better; well yeah. Still use a swaty to weekly tough up if needed. I guess the smooth shaves I got before came from lot and lots of practice with what I had. The prep and built up skill of shaving over many years still give pretty fine shaves. Greg