Gents

Like most guys, I've been using multi-blade throw-away plastic monstrosities that the TV commercials tell me are "razors". In the past, anyway. They did take the beard of, but at the price of bumps and generally irritated feeling skin. Later I tried a Philishave Nivea cream electric razor, which I found quite ok although it felt strange. One day I dropped it and it broke. So I bought a trimmer and just kept a short beard. Problem solved. But you dont always want a beard, so what do you do? Yep, you've guessed it, you look it up online. I bought a 1960 Gillette Adjustable razor and have used it several times. The shave from a single blade is really great, pretty close for having tried it only a handful of times, no hair stuck in it after an inch of shaving - great! But... well, I'm a purist, I want something more, something less conventional than a "safety" razor, something more "old school", something more, err, dangerous. I want a straight razor. So here I am LOL

I've read all the wikis, newbie threads, honing guides, etc. on here and elsewhere, but it's a lot of information to process when you havent got the razor, hones, strop, etc. and cannot relate to what you're reading, so I went to a knife shop and bought a Dovo razor, a paddle and 2 pastes. This helped in the sense that I now realize that I need 3 hones, another paddle and more paste before I can even start using it.

Could someone please confirm the following shopping list?
Norton 4k/8k stone
Chinese 12k stone
Sharpton 16k stone
Diamond plate to flatten the stones
4 sided paddle with 4 kinds of gradually finer pastes (or is 2 sides enough with the 16k stone?)
strop

Already bought a shave ready razor from someone on the forum to know what it should be like.

Your advice is greatly appreciated.

C.

PS: Why dont they make the paddles the width of the razors? Is there an advantage to honing diagonally?