Hi All,

This is my first post on SRP, but I have been dipping into some of the threads and they have been very useful helping to decide to get a straight razor myself, so thanks very much..!

Knowing my growing interest in straight razor shaving my girlfriend bought me a shave at a barbers so I had my first shave this weekend, courtesy of Trumpers in Piccadilly. They did such a great job that I decided to bite the bullet and get my own razor, so I am now the proud owner of a DOVO Blackstar and hanging leather strop!

I decided to give it a try this morning and shaved both cheeks down to my jawline and across to my mouth. I managed to get a very close shave, comparable to my Merkur DE, with no nicks or cuts, which I`m delighted about..!

I just had a few questions about moving on from this succesful first attempt.

Firstly, is it worth honing the razor now? I managed to get a good shave with it this morning with very little pulling or scraping (certainly no more than I get with my DE razor even with a new blade), but I have seen posts about shave ready razors and the benefits of honing new razors to get a better edge. Should I hone this razor now?

Second, I have read many posts that say decent stropping will keep a razor keen for a few months but when I do need to hone, is the Norton 4k/8k stone a good first stone to get? Is there a better first stone? Also, my stropping pattern (from reading on SRP) I used today was 40 canvas and 50 leather strokes before, then 10 canvas and 10 leather after. Is this ok?

Thanks very much guys and I look forward to swapping info and stories with you all!

Stu