Matt,you got me to thinking and I believe you are spot on when it comes to the prep. When i shave with the DE blades I can only get one pass before they become noticeably dull.I suppose my facial hair must be fairly tough. I changed my prep and tried a different approach to stropping and had great results tonight. Probably one of the best shaves so far-if not the best. And I used the W&B tonight for all 3 passes-WTG,ATG and scythe. I even had much more success scything the hollows of my neck than before. It is almost impossible to scythe with those sheet metal DE blades,the harsh corners are just not forgiving. Scything is much easier (read: less scary) with a nice rounded heel on your razor. Just one more example where a n00b should never suspect a professionally honed razor as the culprit behind a bad shave. It is a good day today. Thank you for your post. It was a good cure to my tunnel vision!