Thread: Feather to Straight to Feather to.......

I got interested in straight razor shaving about 5 months ago. Tried the Feather AC and had the usual experience of nicks and razor burn. Switched to straight and had, again, the usual experience - steep learning curve, moderate case of RAD, sending razor back to be rehoned, working on technique of shaving and stropping. Got to the point where I was getting a decent shave most of the time, but still not able to get the chin and parts of the jawline right.
Then I decided to try the Feather again - this time my technique for prep, stretching and blade movement had the benefit of the practice with the straight. Using a very light touch and shallow to no angle, I have gotten terrific shaves with the Feather. No irritation, good clean up of difficult areas, one nick that I would have gotten with a straight due to a dumb move.
While I recognize that the technique with the feather is somewhat easier (angle is pretty fixed and predictable) my other conclusion is that my razors just aren't sharp enough. The ones from the honemeisters do ok for a few shaves. I know that the usual criticism at this point would be stropping, but I have to think there is more than that.
I plan to keep at the straights, work on technique and stropping, but really need to consider whether I can learn to hone and strop well enough to make the straights a viable choice.
I'm curious if others have been through this cycle.
Thanks!