Thread: Newb here. Got Some Questions.

Hello everyone. I've been lurking here for a bit, and now that I finished with my law school apps (literally about a minute ago) I figured I would reward myself with getting a straight. Since I'm now about to jump into straight shaving I figured I might well join here.

I have a few questions before taking the plunge though.

1. Is honing really that hard? It seems that some people (esp in the B&B forum) make it sound as if I'll have an easier time of it if I try to learn brain surgery. I bought the Lynn Abrams DVD and honing seems pretty straightforward to me. Am I missing some subtlety , or is it that people want to stress the importance of buying a shave ready razor the first time out?

2. I was thinking of getting a pasted paddle strop to freshen the blade up every now and again, but I was wondering how will I know when the blade will need a proper honing and not just a few passes on the pasted paddle?

3. Finally - and this may seem like a silly question to you (but if I can't ask a stupid question anonymously over the internet, well then where can I ask one? ) - what do you hang a hanging strop from?

Thanks in advance.