Well, I have a badger brush, a Dovo, and a "cosmetically blemished but modified and shave-ready" Gold Dollar coming.

Are the strops from star shaving company any good? They have one called the Big Mama and a bigger one called the Big Daddy. Which would be better for a first real strop? I am from the bigger is better school of thought but is it TOO big, the Big Daddy?

I just found out you can strop on... NEWSPAPER! I will use newspaper the first couple of times just to avoid any oopsies on my first strop. The family heirloom I will keep in reserve for now.

With two shave ready razors, I shouldn't need to worry about honing them for a few weeks, right? I will leave the search for a sharpening method for another thread. Probably when the first one gets dull I will give it a go on my Dad's finer stones, which I just found out are Arkansas stones, almost all of them. One big one is like glass and my dad sits in front of the TV and will sharpen one of his favorite knives for a solid hour on it and then shave a little piece of his face with it. He has always done that for as long as I can remember. He says it takes a lot of strokes to make a difference in an edge but that there is nothing in the world like it. I was reading about the HHT test and he has always done that with his old Trimble and Case pocketknives so I am pretty sure and he is pretty sure that his big stone will work for a straight razor blade. But I am sure there are other types of stones and other methods that have their good points so I will come back here for sharpening advice when I got a dull razor to contend with. Now the fun part... learning how to use the razor! Well, first the boring part waiting for delivery.