Everything just seemed to work this evening for me.

First, I used a Norton 4/8K water stone followed by a 12K stone to hone the razor. Cleaned it up with 1 micron & .25 micron pasted strops. Finished with a plain leather strop.

Long shower with some hair conditioner worked into my 2-day old beard. Hot water ready and waiting for Bigelow cream with a drop of lanolin and a drop of Trumper's skin food added--made for some great lather.

The shave was fantastic--what difference the honing made! A few days ago this razor was tugging at my beard and causing some razor burn. This evening I just wiped the lather and whiskers away. Fantastic. As close to baby-butt as I've ever come with any razor.

A big thanks to everyone who has contributed to this forum and thereby helped me pull this evening's shave together. I've learned quite a bit in the past 2 months and now can't imagine shaving any other way.