hey everybody, my name's marcus and i've been shaving with a straight for a couple of months now. after reading up here on srp about how "shave-ready" from the manufacturer is not necessarily shave-ready from a shaving standpoint, when i got my razor (a dovo bismarck) for christmas, i couldn't wait to try it out and threw caution to the wind.

anyways, i've been stropping the blade before and after shaving every time, but i can't help but notice that the blade has gotten pretty dull. so far i haven't chopped my face to bits or anything, but i certainly haven't been trying to shave bbs either. at this point i'm thinking i just need to get this blade honed, but i live in edmonton, alberta, and don't want to have to pay for massive shipping fees to get the blade honed by someone in the states. the other thing is that it is my only razor, and i don't want to go without shaving for the weeks it will take for me to get it back.

so here's the question: can anyone suggest some reasonable alternatives to shipping the razor to the states? is there anyone with honing expertise in alberta? could i try taking the razor to a knife store or a barber or something? anyways, long post. thanks for your patience!