Welcome to SRP. What you've done is like what I used to do when I'd get some table, or whatever, that had to be assembled. I'd go ahead and get at it without reading the instructions. Sometimes that worked, and other times it didn't. We have a lot of 'sticky' threads for beginning shaving, stropping, and honing. Videos and what have you. I always made out better when I read the instructions before I got started.

IME it is best to have at least one, if not two, pro honed razors to shave with. Buy used razors in excellent or better condition to practice honing and stropping. Here is a PDF excerpt on honing and stropping from the SRP Library. It is from a 1961 barber manual and helped me when I was starting out.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwi...t_-_Honing.pdf