Hello...

Well I have been DE shaving for 6/7 months.. moved through the Merkur HD/Vision and settled on the Slant with Feather blades (must have a tough old beard ).

So I have been reading threads on here and BnB and my interest has been tickled into wanting to try a straight.

But I admit I am in 2 minds.. on the one hand the Feathers Ac's with disposable blades (and ultra sharpness) appear a fine solution without have to worry about stropping/honing etc etc.

Only problem is the limited availability for me in the UK to keep stocking up on blades etc and the only place I have found to order the Teak handled Ac's is Classic shaving in the US.

Then theres the "real" straights with stropping and honing and further expense and much larger learning curve to get going.
(Again being in the Uk seems to limit me having easy access to the "gurus" who could hone my blade initially until I had learnt enough to do it myself).

Though the ideal solution would be to do both

So looking around ebay I came across a few auctions. I have found uk suppliers (and not bad prices) of the norton 4000/800 waterstone and the handy rubber holder to mount the stone to. But I was looking on the bay at getting a cheap blade/strop which I could practice with whilst I work on purchasing something nicer like a dovo etc.

I would like some advice as to whether these purchases would be ok (especially the strop as they seem to come in all shapes and sizes and price brackets)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=004

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/straight-razor...QQcmdZViewItem

Any other and all advice greatly recieved..

Thanks

Matt