I'm liking the Zen angle/approach! And, it kinda makes sense from the little experience I've goten so far... One razor had broken weird-fixed scales and I ended up getting a set of scales that fit exactly and that project came together easily. Then, another razor I got locally from a gentleman in his 60's who told me it was his Grandfather's razor... I was really excited because of the history and thought I'd dive right in but when I looked at it I just felt I should clean her up, hone her and leave the patina exactly as it was. My last oops was a lesson where I was tired and should have walked away but kept messing with a razor that came in the mail and I broke one of the scales... Instead of being bummed I started to notice the file work on the spine and coming up with ideas for a custom job to hire someone to do.

Very interesting stuff and the way you all explain it takes a lot of the stress outta the thing... My last attempt at a new Hobby was classic Honda Choppers and the learning curve was intense... I kept getting information that I should come up with a 'concept' and in my head it never worked out... I just kept thinking "Chopper- VvRrOoMm!" and could never wrap my head around the artistic concept so eventually moved on and found homes for a garage full of stuff. Razors, in comparison have been a little less confusing and more intuitive; so far that is.

I just wanted to make sure there were no super obvious things to avoid.

Thanks for the link and the info!