I'm an absolute beginner and bought my first straight razor on a whim this week--a new 5/8" rudolf stehlo from a reputable local knife dealer. The dealer assured me it was shave ready, but, after poking around on here, I suspect his standards are different than most of yours. I performed some shave ready tests I found on the site and think my blade clearly needs some work.

Thoughts on where I should go from here? Should I send it off to be honed? If so, where? Or should I just buy a used shave ready razor from the forums, learn to shave with it, and hone my new razor when I'm ready to start honing?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Tom