I am a Straight Razor Shaver

[ShoreBird]

Back in June I really wanted to try a straight razor. I bought one for $25 off the forum. I immediately tried it on one cheek and it went smooth. I finished up with my DE. I started adding real estate littlt by little and it seemed it was getting harder for me to shave, it pulled, burned and drew blood. It was then that I made a vow that if I couldn't maintain the edge on my razor I would give it up. Well the RAD kicked in I bought hones, stropes, and razors off of ebay. My heart was broken when I cut up my new SRP modular hone pad. I just could not get the hang of stropping. I made bench strops to "ruin" as I improved my skills.
One Saturday my wife went to the Glenn Beck rally so I watched Lynn's video. I got juiced. I grabbed a Weiss razor I got on ebay , pulled out the dremel tool and went to work. In little or no time the razor looked like new. I did notice a chip in the blade so i went to honing and honing. The next day I tried the razor and it tugged every bit as much as my first razor. Well I guess i can't hone right either. I kept shaving with my no name and then bought a Dovo from this forum. I "assumed" it was shave ready. It shaved better than the original but it still was uncomfortable. I was ready to give up. But I did notice my strop skills improved. I then bought a Timor razor shave ready, I was now able to shave my whole face
and after a week it was easy and no burn when I went over my face with a razor rock.
Well after a couple of weeks with the Timor it started to tug and pull by then I was able to do multiple passes with the Timor. Today I figured I couldn't use the Timor again it was too "rough". I pulled out the Weiss that I had "restored" and gave it a try. Man was it smooth, I got a fantastic shave, it wasn't my honing it was my technique, my honing was perfectly acceptable.
The moral is if you want to learn to shave with a straight razor make sure you get a shave ready razor. Be prepared to stumble along the way. Stick with it. Today I am a straight razor shaver.