Razor: My first was a Dovo "Best." Unlike some - though I have bought other great razors since then (its a sickness), I still love and use my Dovo regularly. The Dovo should do you fine for a lifetime.

Honing: "Stones" - synthetic stones anyway - might be a problem for you. Me thinks that you'll probably want to run your chiefs knives over them. You really shouldn't as A. the finer grits really would see them little good, and B. knives really have a tendency to take away from the flatness that you so need for a razor. At least for me. I would think the Norton's would be better than the Naniwa's if you can't fight off the urge to use your knives on them... but I prefer the Naniwa's better for my straights.

Lather: As for sensitive skin - allow me to project a bit. No one can tell you which is better than others for YOU. The reason for that is, what irritates you isn't uniform throughout the population. You know? But what I will say is uniform is the lack of men who don't map their face. This pays HUGE dividends. Cutting with the grain on the fist pass will spare you irritation like nothing else me thinks and is a huge face saver. Especially when learning a straight. But I liked "The Gentleman's Refinery" products with their all natural products. The liquid aftershave is awesome... for me .

All said and done, shaving with a straight I find provides the least irritating experience of all the methods I have tried... if you don't take into account the first two or three months learning. It takes a while but oh... oh how pleasant a shave once you become a little proficient.

Well that's my two cents - Best of luck and welcome to SRP.