Thank you for the warm welcome. I have a decent brush (EJ Best badger brush) and soap. It is a matter of trying a straight with a strop. I am not sure whether I need diamond paste on top of strop as well. I can buy an expensive str8 but I do not want to do it now. I have seen user chip the blade with the faucet so I wanted to try with something around 10-20 $ and wee how it goes. Thanks every one.