Had my first shave tonight with a Michigan Farmer that I ordered from Bob Keyes at bobsrazors.com. The wife went out shopping and I had the house to myself. Really tried to take my time. I was a little shaky and felt clumsy at times holding the razor as it should be held. Off hand was even uglier. But I got through with only one small nick and some razor burn. I took Lynns advice and only shaved my cheeks down to the jaw line, then finished up with my Atra. A little styptic on the cut, followed up with some witch hazel and a dash of Ogallala Bay Rum AS. Stropped the straight after and saw at once that this is not going to be as easy as it looks in the videos. I hope I didn't mess the blade up because after stropping it wouldn't come close to passing the cut hair test described here. Any advice on stropping, anyone? Maybe I should get a clunker razor to practice on so I don"t mess this one up. I don't want to make the blade worse trying to become proficient at this, I know there is a learning curve but I'd like to keep that curve as short as possible.