Originally Posted by
edhewitt
That's debatable, many guys still recommend using an x stroke on wider strops to account for inconsistencies in the strop surface, however I still think a wider strop is better, I only have a 3" strop. But I know that I prefer using my wider finishing hone over my narrower one.
Obie covered everything very well, it looks like you have a limited budget, but want a nice razor, which is good, I would leave the hone at the moment and spend that money on a better strop, and some proper shaving soap, even the VDH kit advertised as an also buy on the link to the strop would suffice. If you start out with a solid basic kit, you can upgrade parts slowly as you find the need, however start out with rubbish, and you will buy things twice.