Well, after lurking here on and off for many weeks, I've finally decided to join. My interest is in straight razor shaving is based in returning to the old ways of doing things, a masculine ritual of by-gone days. I remember my dad using a brush and cream with a DE, the skill needed for a proper shave. I don't have any probles with the cartridge shave I get now, but it is pretty expensive, and it has no romance. I am also interested in fine-edged kitchen knives, well---- because I am a classically trained chef!

So I have yet to make any purchases, but will in the coming weeks. My first question, though, surrounds honing of straight razors. I already have a 1k, and 5k, Shapton Pro stones, and a 8/12k Kitayam polishing stone. Can I use these on razors AND my knives, or do they need to be kept separate. I keep them very flat, lapping on a polished marble with wet/dry paper.

The other question I have on honing is, do you really keep the spine on the stone when honing? It seems that be abrading away too much metal, yet it would be almost impossible to keep the spine off the stone and maintain a very tight tolerance for honing the edge properly.

Well that is enough for my first post, I look forward to hearing other's opinions.