Originally Posted by
pcb01
You will screw up. We all do.
You will nick and/or slice yourself. There will likely be no pain. You will learn a great deal from this.
You will mess up your first strop, and do some minor damage to the edge in the process. This will give you the opportunity to learn how to hone.
You will make soap that is too thin, too thick, too small a quantity, and undesirable in other ways. In a few weeks you will be making great stuff.
Back to honing: this will probably be one of the most frustrating as well as one of the most satisfying skills you ever try to accomplish. You will never master it. It will be endlessly engaging.
What I'm trying to say is: what exactly are you afraid of? Failing? That is a given. You will fail repeatedly. But your failures will become less and less frequent. And each one will be necessary. Embrace all of them.