Hoping to get suggestions and review on my technique. Some backstory is I’ve been practicing with a shavette for a while now but I wanted to get into straight razors since I have my own whetstones for chef knives. I bought a gold dollar to practice on and I used it the first time, that was dull as hell even though I bought it “shave ready” so I passed it on my 5k shapton and 12k naniwa gouken. This helped a bit but my shavette felt smoother so I knew something was wrong. I did a few things different this time, starting with dulling the blade and getting a new apex not that factory one it brought. I put a thin layer of electrical tape on the spine and with the 5k shapton I made a slurry before doing circles and then x strokes. I was in this stone for like 8 minutes. After this I would have wanted to go to an 8k but I haven’t gotten it yet. So I moved to my naniwa 12k and repeated the process with the slurry with the exception of doing the x strokes from hard pressure to lower pressure and then lower pressure and under running water. After this I went to my strip with 0.50 micron paste and did 25 passes each side. It felt a lot smoother on the skin without any shaving cream so I’m hoping for my next shave it will yield good results… any suggestions or tips? I know the 8k might help with the progression but it arrives in a week or so. Thank you in advance and it’s a pleasure to be a part of this community.