First shave and a pic!

Hey Everyone,

Had my first shave last night. I must say that I don't think my razor was shave ready at all, but I still went for it. A whole bunch of little cuts later and a really sore face and I still came out with a "decent" shave for the dullness of the blade. For anyone out there getting excited and wanting to shave with their not so sharp razor I must say LISTEN TO PEOPLE HERE AND GET YOUR RAZOR SHARP FIRST! I wish I would have:cry:

That being said, here's a pic of my gear. I cleaned and lapped my stone a bunch and found a paddle strop at a flea market for 5 euro (8 bucks). Thanks for the help identifing the stone guys!

The leather on the strop was looking really bad but I went to work on it with some steel wool then 400 grit sand paper to get off all the black crusty parts. It was really, really ugly. I then rubbed olive oil into it and it doesn't look so bad now. I wish I took some before pics to show the night and day difference! forgive the tacks as i didn't have any small nails to secure the leather.

So I don't know if it is in good enough shape to be stropping with, it might be too rough, but I've never seen a working strop before, so I guess I'll keep working with it to experiment.

Now back to the hone to try and pass the HHT:o My razor is a stainless steel solingen Walky. Don't know if it is crap, but it at least seems to be somewhat sharp with no nicks.

Yeah Seriously get your razor sharp first! Also Chopstick... I don't know if you are on a budget but I would say till u get used to using the equipment and know what works or not I would get a new paddle or hanging strop. You can get a starter from Tony for $35. Go for it that way and save your face cause even if it is sharp, it won't matter if it isn't well stropped.