Greetings,
New here, and never used a straight. I now own one, with a second on the way, courtesy of wojtec by way of ebay. I also picked up one of his black slate stones, an arkansas, and the smooth strop. I've been practicing my wetshaving techniques with cheap single blade disposables (bic something-or-other), a coffee mug, a pure badger brush (not sure of maker, it was a gift) and a puck o' Williams. I've been using straight glycerin as a preshave, and witchhazel as an aftershave. Oh, and a few drops of olive oil on the Williams seems to compensate some for my hard water. Now that introductions are out of the way, I had the first of what I'm sure will be many questions. Are there any honemeisters in Minneapolis/St. Paul area that'd be willing to let me watch them sharpen my razor? I'm certainly willing to send my razor out to be honed, but I'd rather meet someone and get a chance to watch the work being done so that I can ask questions and stuff. I'd be willing to pay a little extra for the priveledge. Thanks in advance!

Paul

p.s. My ebay experience was great. I can't speak for the quality of my items, since I know nothing about razors yet, but everything was exactly as shown. Shipping took slightly less than two weeks, and the one question that I had was dealt with quickly and professionally. I highly recommend open_razor's wares.