Ah thanks for the info. I was going to go with Taylor of Old Bond Street (Mr. Taylor). I'll check out Colleen's line. I realized the honing station that comes with the Norton isn't that great, so I'm gonna have to build my own. I have a design in mind, and now it's just a matter of materials (suggestions?).
I'm a bit weary of ebay... Especially used items on this particular subject. I really don't feel comfortable with using a razor, strop, or hone that someone else has used. It's probably safe, but that's not why I feel uncomfortable about it. It's simply because it went to someone else's face. For some odd reason, that sends shivers down my spine.
As for having someone else sharpen it. On a lot of matters I tend to lean towards the DIY. For me, honing is one of those DIY sort of things. I'm sure Lynn makes a very nice, sharp edge (I've seen tons of recommendations and comments about Lynn sharpening razors), but I'm gonna just jump right into the honing. That's just how I tend to do things, I'm weird like that. I wrap my brain around the subject as much as possible, and go for it. Typically everything comes out okay. Hopefully nothing will change in this area for me.
Thanks again for all the advice!
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Oh, I'm also sort of curious. What does bay rum smell like? Does it have a really musky smell?
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Oh, I'll share my plans for my honing station. The securing mechanism is going to be just using friction. So I'm gonna have to make it somewhat heavy and increase coefficient of friction at the base (line it with rubber). I decided it's going to be able to sort of feed itself water. At first I was going to install a pump so it could go directly to the stone, but I decided that would be too costly. So instead the inside will just slope to a spout where I can use a cup or something and transport the water back up. I'll run through some calculations tomorrow to help determine what materials to use. Hopefully I'll be allowed to take some things from the mechanics lab to build this for free.