Something to consider about "back in the day" when a razor cost three bucks. In some cases that was a day's pay. A pocket knife with a lot more parts to fit and finish cost fifty cents. The cutlers that ground razors were the highest paid of the cutlery profession. A razor was a tool to be used and it was an investment as well.

My great grandfather, carried a straight razor, a small hone, a little mirror, a tin cup, and brush in his saddle bag. He used the saddle cinch for a strop. Every picture I's seen of him he was clean shaven. I wish I had his shaving gear but it was lost in a house fire a long time before I was born. The reason I know this is that my grandfather relayed that information to me many years back before his death. Those guys may not have gotten the super shaves from razors we are getting today, but they made do with what they had.

BTW, I watched a NOS Northfield single blade jack with ebony handles and the original paper wrapping sell for over four hundred on ebay a few months back. That knife probably sold for twenty five cents when it was new.

I've maintained and set bevels out of necessity on barber's hones as that is all I own at the moment. I intend to buy a set of Naniwa stones simply because they get work done SO much faster and easier. I like fooling with these things and hope to buy, restore, and sell a few here and there to help fund my madness.