What's the deal with my edge?
I just finished my 'introductory' post over at the new guy place, so hopefully it isn't too rude to immediately hop in over here with a question. Around 30 years ago, I shaved daily with a straight--went to it cold turkey, overnight, with no training (although I had gotten a couple of barber shaves from a guy who had made his living shaving instead of cutting hair!). So my training consisted of casual observation while my entire face (except my nose) was covered by a steaming towel. Anyway, I made it work through thought, persistence, and liberal application of styptic pencil. The point is, I shaved every day (I was in the military at the time). I got my razors back from honing (gssixgun) last week. Same hone on all. Shave-ready. I started with an heirloom razor. It is stamped BEAUTY RITE on the front and "S.D. Shaw . . ." on the back and it is rusty and pitted and hone-worn, but took an edge and I decided to try it because if you can't shave with it, then it isn't a razor anymore. Other than a pretty good razor burn on the left side of my chin (pressure) it was a GREAT shave. A few days later I pulled out my old 'daily' shaver--a Dovo 80 (Fritz Bracht, Facharbeit) for another shave. The right side was fine but the razor felt like it dulled during the move to the left side of my face. Terrible results--no cuts, burns, or weepers but plenty of whiskers leftover. Stropped and tried again a few days later with the same results from the Dovo. Stropped and tried the BEAUTY RITE ugly duckling again and the whiskers practically fell off my face (and no burn this time!). So the question is, finally, why the difference: same honing, same stropping, same shaver and technique, but vastly different results?