Hi everyone, It's my first post on these forums!

Basically I'm just looking for some advice on getting a razor to be sharp enough to shave with, had a birthday earlier this month and one of the things friends got me was a straight razor except it has no brand name on it, and the grind was all wrong and dodgy, and I don't know what the metal is as there's no markings anywhere on it.

So I fixed the grind so now its at the angle where you can lay it flat on the stone to sharpen it so that the points of contact are the side of the spine and the cutting edge.(im using a combination stone and I don't know what the grits are, I think it's just as good as any $10 stone from the hardware store)

I don't have any other stones that are finer, so I moved onto sandpaper, 800 -> 1200 -> 2000 grits.

With those I am able to get an edge that shaves hair off my arm but not my face,

then I stropped for a long time(till my arm got tired) on my leather belt (I know I know I must sound so cheap by now) and now the razor can shave my face except it hurts because (I believe) it's not sharp enough and I have to apply a bit of pressure.

Basically all my knowledge on sharpening and stropping and everything razor related I got off the internet, forums like this and youtube videos.

So now you know my history I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction. I need advice on whether I should have used higher grit stones like 4000 and 8000 before i moved to leather and do away with the sandpaper, or should I also get something with some abrasive paste like what they rub into balsa wood or the fabric side of strops and strop on that before stropping on leather? I also want to buy a new strop and I found one on an online store called ''Black Beauty'' which is Australian made, should I buy that? or should I buy a combination one where one side has abrasive paste and the other doesn't? What would be better for a learner.

Or should I also buy a proper straight razor. I know the one I'm using would probably not even be considered a real shaving straight razor by you guys but I figured if someone can sharpen an axe sharp enough to shave their face with then it should be possible to sharpen this straight of mine.

I want to feel confident that I can make this razor shave worthy before investing in a proper straight razor.

Thanks for your time I know I wrote a lot..