New To Shaving and a lil frustrated

[Leviticus]

Hey, so I'm new to the whole Straight Razor community and everything and I was super excited about owning straight razor and getting a close shave but now its causing me to be frustrated at my straight razor and asking myself why didn't i stick with the disposable razors instead of wasting money. Ive been reading on a good amount of threads that would relate to my razor, strop, and hone,and watched every possible video on proper techniques and everything. and still it has made me frustrated. I'm thinking its possible the sharpness of my razor and i understand that most razors don't come shave ready. i feel like the hone i got which is a Hard Arkansas Razor Hone may not be doing the job for me even though it cuts slowly( if i remember that correctly)

so I just wondering from you guys did I get cheap quality products... or do i just suck lol

So i got all my razor equipment at a place in Harvard Square called Leavitt & Peirce (great place, sells a lot of cool things and tobacco lots of it)

** also i got everything around late July early August...Also Sorry for the Large Size of the pictures

The razor i got is called a Mehaz Razor said to be made in Solingen Germany( I read a thread on this razor posted by str8razor and has been said to be a made out of good steel and not pakistan)




The handle originally said Solingen in Silver(painted) but got scratched off...

The Strop I have is a Illinois Razor Strop (has a canvas)



And my stone which i feel like is the problem