Hey guys,

I am originally from Los Angeles but I am doing a masters degree in Lyon, France. For my birthday a couple months back by girlfriend bought me a straight razor from a really classy knife shop here in Lyon. We are both students so I think she bought the cheapest one she could get. It's all white (feels like plastic) scales and the blade is a round-tipped basic blade (no writing on the blade). One the blade near the scales it says "Solingen, Made in Germany" but there is no other writing on the blade and it came without a box. So... the questions...

Question 1: I have been searching everywhere online and I cant find this razor anywhere! I want to figure out if this is stainless or carbon steel. How would I find that out?

Question 2: The lady who sold it to my girlfriend told her that it was shave ready and I have been shaving with it (daily stroping, of course) since the end of october. I find that I sometimes have to make 3 or 4 passes (sometimes against the grain) to get a real close shave. Was she lying to me or was it really "shave ready"?

Question 3: If it is not shave ready, will it suffice to strop it on the CrO2 side of my paddle strop (Streich-Reimen paddle strop, came with CrO2 paste already on one side of the strop) or should I send it in to Lynn Abrams to have it honed? The problem is that it's really expensive to send stuff from france to the US and the French postal service loses packages all the time. I wouldnt want to lose this razor and I dont know of any companies that hone straights in france, nor do i know if i would trust them. Dont get me wrong, I love France but man, only after living abroad for a couple years do you start to realize how much easier and logical things are in the USA.

Question 4: Right after I started shaving with it I noticed small brownish/black translucent spots that are starting to appear not at the blade edge but closer to the spine. Is this rust or just water spots? I bought some Dremel #421 polishing compound but dont have a dremel tool. Ive also read that this sort of polishing compound can be bad for blades depending on the metal they are made of. Someone at a cutlery shop here in France recommended that I use "Laine d'acier 000" translated as Steel Wool 000. Im assuming the 000 refers to a very fine grit steel wool. Do you recommend this?

Thanks again for helping out a newbie.
-Paul the expat.