Ok guys here's the deal; I am finally the proud owner of a complete set of shaving equipment thanks to the recent addition of a real strop and a complete Norton's whetstone set (in the form of a 220/1000 and a 4K/8K) and here's some things I've learned in the past couple of days since I got them.

First off, a good set of stones and a good strop make a BIG difference. I wish I had been able to acquire them sooner.

Secondly, I got RIDICULOUSLY lucky with my first razor purchase. I bought a Henckel 5/8 on eBay to get me started in all this with nothing but a scrap of canvas and a Spyderco Sharpmaker to hone it. The LUCK comes in here, because with this pathetic excuse for equipment I managed to get the razor sharp enough that I shaved with it LITERALLY for over a year quite happily (though I'm very aware that by your standards I was enjoying a sub-par shave). If it hadn't been for that stroke of luck I probably would have abandoned this idea and written you all off as wackos permanently.

Since then I have acquired a pair of new razors, one a heavy Thistle Cut Co that has apparently been passed down to 4, possibly 5, generations of my family, and a 4/8 Prior that purportedly dates back to somewhere around the 20s. Unfortunately in all this time I have never been able to shave with the Thistle, and the prior was a stocking stuffer this year at Xmas and it falls into basically the same boat.

I've now experimented a little with the pyramid honing technique and have improved my Henckel a lot (though I have lots to learn still) but the other two are causing me a LOT of trouble. When I hone them, instead of a long shiny line along the edge of the blade like my Henckel has (though there's a spot out toward the toe that suffers from what I'm about to describe a little) I get two different reactions.

First the Prior since it's probably the least troublesome. When I hone on the Prior instead of a long end to end shiny line, I get a shiny line starting from the heel and running a little less than halfway to the toe where it disappears. I suspect it's because the measure from spine to edge is slightly wider at the heel than at the toe causing the the razor to lose contact around the midpoint of the edge.

The Thistle (which holds sentimental value obviously) is an even bigger version of the problem. Instead of half an edge like the Prior after honing on it a bit I get a shiny line in the center but not on the heel OR toe but only on ONE SIDE. The other side is the exact opposite with a shiny heel and toe and a dead center. Also on each side the part that is shiny is what I would consider a MUCH longer bevel than seems proper meaning that the measurement from the edge to the end of the bevel as you travel towards the spine is closing in on 1/8".

Sorry for the book but I wanted to make sure I got all the proper information in the post but to sum up my question is this. Are my theories about the cause of such issues correct, and if so how do I fix them? Are my assumptions wrong, and if so how do I correct them? And is there another pyramid like technique using coarser grits like the 220/1000 to reestablish my bevel and edge or are these razors to be written off and put in a shadow box?