Time for me to ask some noob questions. 1) I've seen video of Lynn honing and when he does his spine flip ,he sometimes picks the blade up off of the surface . Can this be done when stropping as well ? is it okay ? 2) Not too thrilled with Lilac Vegetal,any other good lilac type aftershaves out there or maybe even a recipe to make some,which might be kind of cool ? 3) In leu of that,are there any good basic techniques for making simple home aftershaves and colognes ? 4) Used my alum block tonight for the first time ever, loved the after feel of it ahhhhh but I got some in my mouth (achh) is this stuff toxic over prolonged use ,so many confusing answers I've seen both for and against,..now I'm confused ?? Noobed !!