This thread got me motivated so I thought about the process I was using and gave it another shot this morning. I realized I was making a fairly stupid mistake. When I hone, I don't tape so I've been trying to hold the spine of the razor as little as possible off the stone to avoid scratching. When I strop, I've just been laying it flat and going at it. As a result, I'm pretty sure I've been stropping slightly behind the edge, which is pointless. I raised the angle a bit when stropping this morning and noticed a difference. I still ended up with some tugging on the tougher parts around the chin and definitely some irritation/burn, but it was manageable. Hopefully improving technique can get me the rest of the way.