Originally Posted by
Stubear
The thing is though all the steels are different! :)
So the'll respond differently to different hones and will give different edges depending on how and on what they were honed.
Just a couple of examples off the top of my head are Sheffield blades dont really like high grit synthetic hones I've found, and Swedish steel seems to prefer Shaptons over Naniwas.
Hence the reason for HAD I guess! :D It's like "that edge was good but I reckon that hone will make it better"
Then you've got the differences in soap, stropping and shave prep which will alter things again, as dylan says.
I've shaved with my Wacker one day with Tabac and thought "my god that's amazing" and then the next day used a different soap and not been as impressed because, for me, I prefer tabac over soap X.
Or used the same soap and different blades, or used a different strop...
All part of the fun! :)