Thread: Help sharpening

Hello,
I recently discovered this forum and it is filled with a weath of good information.
A started shaving with a DE some months ago and now I am thinking about switching to, or at least trying a straight. I have an old one that I would like to use, it is clean and sharp, but not sharp enough to shave with. So far, I have honed it with a very fine grit sharpening stone that I had, and stropped it with an old leather belt that I sanded the shiny finish off. I would like to try and get it sharp with what I have here, rather than spending money on special stones/strops, as I do not know if straight shaving is for me, and I am on a limited budget. I have included some photos of my makeshift gear. So far, i have gotten the razor sharp enough to kind of shave--that is bearly at all but at least not completely snagging as it was when I started, and it will cut a hanging hair if I use a fast slicing motion on the hair and it catches it. I could keep honing, but I did not want to take too much metal off the edge, and I know that the "hanging hair test" is not always accurate. Also, does stropping sharpen at all or simply "align" the steel for shaving?
any help you could provide would be appreciated