Newbie,hone and irritation!

[woork]

Hello all!

I am a straight razor newbie from sweden (might be some bad spelling=)...)
I got my first straight razor a while back,a razor from Solingen Germany,it's a sweet looking razor but it could be sharper.I've only shaved like 5-6 times with it so i realize that my technice is far from good but i think it would be easier on my skin if the razor was sharper.

The problem area is the neck and chin area,where my beard is dense.It feels like the razor is pulling the beard where it's dense.The result is a bad shave on the neck and severe razorburn.The first times i shaved I stropped about 20-30 times but the last times I stropped 100 times,it felt like the razor was a little bit sharper the last two shaves,but not by much.

So I need a hone.I think I'm going to order some stuff from Straight Razors - Safety Razors - Wet Shaving & Grooming Supplies but I'm kind of lost in the jungle of stones.I've been reading on the forum that the norton 4000/8000 is a good stone,how about the cheaper stones on classicshaving?I'm a university student so I don't have too much cash lying around.But if the norton is the way to go,I'll have to go for it.How do I test if a razor is sharp enough?

Victor
Sweden