Welcome Andy. Glad you decided to join us. You sound like a very methodical guy and that will serve you well with straight shaving. The rule of thumb is 100 shaves is what it takes to get really proficient; over the hump so to speak. If you're enjoying it and getting good shaves already then you're ahead of the curve.
Sorry to hear about your spill on the bike. There are many other riders here. I don't currently own a bike but also live with an injury from a spill years ago. It's minor and I hope yours are too. There are motorcycle threads here you might enjoy.
That's a nice set up you have. I think you will be happy with that for a lifetime and if you are lucky a son or other family member may be privileged as I and many others are to have an heirloom. I have a razor from my father that I am pretty sure belonged to my grandfather and I cherish it deeply.
As far as honing, you don't have to invest a king's ransom to get started. Many of us have but that is largely from HAD: Hone Acquisition Disorder. I will warn you though to beware. It is quite insidious and can infect you too. My suggestion would be to get a good flax linen or hemp fiber strop and some plain canvas pasted with chromium oxide on one side and possibly ferric oxide (red jewelers rouge) on the other (plenty of threads about that here). This will keep you going for quite a while. You can also get one or two good finishers since what you have is already shave ready. My suggestion would be a thuringian or a coticule. Both of these can be slurried to take you back further in the progression, then thin the slurry out with plain water to get to a good clean finish. You can stay keen and shave ready indefinitely with those few items.
Again, glad to have you with us here and look forward to hearing about your progress.
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