Thread: the folly of a newb

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum and want to say thanks already for the wealth of information found in all the threads! I'm new to straight razor shaving and love the idea of never buying another pack of mach 3 razor heads. I went ahead and bought two razors, a paddle strop and a hone on ebay, but really wish I found this site first as I think I might have been a little too ambitious in my pursuit of getting stuff for cheap.

I read that solingen blades were pretty good so I found a "ben-hur 60" and a "walky registered No. 84 silver steel". the ben hur looks really used but the walky seems to be in more promising condition.

So my biggest problem is that my razors are about as sharp as a butter knife. The hone and strop seem to be in not too terrific condition and my luck trying to sharpen my razors have left me a little discouraged. I'm not sure if my hone is even a razor hone, but it does have two different grits which has scratches on one side. My biggest question is if I should continue trying to hone and strop to get an acceptable edge or stop what I'm doing and wait for my student aid check to buy some better gear. Any suggestions would be great!

here are some pics for those interested. Also, I'm in Paris if anyone can suggest someplace to go to hone my blades if I shouldn't be trying with my stone.

thanks!