Hey guys, I've had three shaves so far and today was the worst. It wasn't close even after two WTG passes (what I've been doing). And it felt like more of a pulling action like I hear others talk about. The culprit I believe is my stroping technique. I'm hard headed so instead of stroping with the spine leading and then rolling over one the spine to start going the other direction, I lift the razor and turn it around and go the other direction. Also I think I've been using too much force. So I have to work on it, but my problem now is its my third shave in and I don't know if I should send out the razor to get honed, buy another one, or just by a hone and start learning that side of this hobby of mine. How hard is it to sell a used hone, I really want to just get a hone 4/8, and just bring my razor back to shave ready with the 8K.

Also I've put a long handle brush and a 4/8 hone in my cart at KnifeCenter and the shipping is 9.99 which I can wipe out if I just spend $26.10 more. Should I get something else. So far I own:

Whipped dog razor/strop/pasted strop
synthetic brush
the art of shaving starter cream kit
Cella Cream De Barba soap
Glycerin
and I'm about to pull the trigger on a Schwarzweisskeramik