I've bought a strop, razor, shaving cream, badger brush. Everything apart from a hone (though I read that you only need to hone, two or three times a year so I don't think it's too urgent just yet). From reading the FAQ I see that sometimes the blade isn't shave ready. Before my maiden voyage, how do I find out if my blade is shave ready. Is there some test I can do?

Also I've downloaded a couple of PDF's from this site. What should I read first, before D-day?