In an effort to perfect my stropping technique, I bought an old straight razor from an antique shop with the idea of using it for practice while saving my beautiful, sharp Dovo for the real thing.

The blade on the antique razor is dull, and I mean, really, really dull. Butter knife dull is still too sharp to describe how dull this thing really is. Is stropping with such a device bad for the strop? Will it affect the strop in such a way that when I take the Dovo to it, I could actually damage or dull my shaving blade? Or will it, could it, adversely affect my technique? Kind of like practicing basketball with a women's ball before playing the game with a men's ball -- that type of thing?

Also, in the case of my Dovo, I test it prior to shaving by running it over the hair on my thigh to see how cleanly it cuts. I've read in this forum that other people do this to test the blade as well. Other than actually cutting the hair, is there something else I should be looking for? Like a sensation or a visual cue that the blade is sharp?

Many thanks to all the people on this website for their support. I can't imagine how a novice straight razor shaver did it prior to the internet!!!