It's been a few months since I re-started using the straights and I have to say,that after three or four months all I have learned is that I have a very long way to go with this. Whether I'm shaving, stropping, or honing am still getting mixed success at best. And it's tough to stay positive about the hobby I love when things keep going wrong. I constantly get nicks, and am definately nowhere near where I want to be with the hones. It's pretty uncommon for any of my honing to come out the way I want it to, and have only a few razors that I am willing to even risk trying on for fear of ruining them. I just figured out that probably ALL of the stropping I had been doing to this point was seriously flawed and I am just now starting to do it right.

So that's all. I had to vent a little bit.

-----Michael