My lovely wife bought me a new 5/8 round point Ralf Aust for Christmas. This would be my first brand-spankin' new SR. I have been shaving with a straight for about 18 months, using an old 4/8 Real Red Point honed and gifted to me by our inestimable own Cudarunner, and a 5/8 Mandarin I bought honed from Larry at Whipped Dog. Both razors have been providing me with BBS and DFS shaves, and I assumed my new Ralf Aust would come ready to do the same. But it didn't, it seems. My first run was so poor, I had to finish with one of my old straights. I thought maybe it was something I did different, but on the second shave attempt a couple days later, it was only slightly better, and even then only because I worked so hard at it - and it was the first time I've had true razor burn from a straight. And it still wasn't a good shave, about the same or worse than a single pass with a safety razor.

I followed the direction to wipe any oil off and to strop the razor before my first shave. And of course I stropped again before my second shave.

Any thoughts? I expected a shave ready razor from SRD, but maybe they just missed this one? Or is it something I could be doing different without realizing it? As to the latter, I'm not sure how that could be, in that it is almost identical in dimensions and style to my Mandarin.

You will tell me to contact SRD, and I will, but in case there is some user-error possible I'm not thinking of, I wanted to start here with my compatriots.