At the sink in the morning
kempster,
You've been at it what, a month now? OK, you're just getting started. It will get better, probably. You say you watched your grandfather shave and he was how old and had been at it for how long? More than a month. A little patience along with good prep and a sharp razor will go a long way in easing the "sore feet" of the long journey.
I decided when I began shaving again, after many years of sporting a beard, that I would return to using a straight - which I decided to use in my teens after... yup, watching my grandfather use one. I used my original razor and got a not-so-good shave. I bought another presharpened by one of the honemeisters and got a better shave - not really swell, but better. Having decided to go down the path of honing my own blades, I bought a bunch of hones and proceeded to X pattern away, thinking I had in my hands and on the shelf the answers to all my problems both personal and scientific. Not so much.
I continued to shave and season my face and perfect my technique - which resulted in less and less blood spurting from fewer and fewer facial places. Between stropping a lot and honing my own blades I now can get a pretty much BBS shave in 2 passes every morning, with no leakers if I pay attention to where the blade is and what my hands are doing, but this has taken a couple of years of daily shaving. So that's what, 1500-2000 passes on my face? And I did the same with hones after watching one of our local pros (Randy) demonstrating what I should attempt.
Practice, fellow shaver, practice is what it's all about.
and good luck,
:beer2: