Hi gang. Thought I'd pen my intro here since I have a nagging question anyway

I have looked around the forum and watched countless videos, read innumerable threads and cannot seem to find the answer.

I am trying to use my grandfather's pre-WWII Red Point, but I cannot seem to keep an edge on it. I have had it appraised and professionally honed (which I suspect was a waste of money given my results), and last weekend found a professional barber here in town who showed me the works.

My strop is new, but I have dressed it once and the barber showed me how to prepare it pre-shave as well as prep for the shave. Ironically, the easiest part for me is the shave itself, if the blade would retain an edge.

My routine: I steam the face well, then rub in cocoa butter, re-steam. Apply lather, and while it soaks in, I strop the blade about 40-50 times on the leather after rubbing in some lather to moisten the strop and give it some bite (the barber really made this happen, and the blade was sharp on the fingernail test). Re-steam the face and then re-apply lather, rubbing it in with my fingers. I gotta tell ya, my face feels great, but I cannot get the whiskers to come off - they laugh at the blade.

Any thoughts on if the blade is just too old, or if there's something else I can do to get this process going? The one time it has come close to working (after the barber prepped it), it was awesome and I will never go back to a store bought blade.

Thanks in advance!