Well, a couple weeks ago I heard from someone that straight-razor shavers get laid more than disposable guys, so I hurried over to the classicshaving.com site and ordered up a TI razor, a mug and soap, a Rooney brush and one of those Dovo strops. It arrived 10 days ago and I could hardly wait to try it out, but I was disappointed to find that it would only cut fingers and not whiskers, so I got on here and discovered I needed a Norton 4/8 to get it in shape. I worked on it over the weekend and got it sharp enough to result in some black whisker dust swimming in the cream on my razor, so I knew I was on the right track, but it was still much more scraping than gliding, and the shave was not nearly close enough, so I had to take a second pass with my disposable. So after many more passes on the Norton, i finally got a close enough shave this morning to forego the second pass with the disposable. Now, with a disposable, I've for many years simply soaped up my mug in the shower and given it a single pass against the grain. I've never gotten much luck going with the grain, so I just skip to the chase and hit it once against the grain, so that's what I tried this morning, with a much better edge on the straight razor. The result was close enough to go to work, but now that it's almost 7pm, it wouldn't be close enough to hold up to intimate inspection, if you know what I mean, but it will do for now since I'm not expecting any intimate inspection tonight.
Anyway, it was a great feeling to get a close enough shave with the straight to walk out the door without having to resort to a second pass with the disposable, and doing it with a razor I honed (poorly) myself adds immeasurably to the pride and pleasure. I owe my thanks to all of you veterans for my small accomplishment. Thanks.