Hello everyone, I'm sure there's been a few hundred of these, but I might as well get it over with.

Paul's the name, and I finally got for Christmas what I hope will be my next obsession, a straight razor. Don't know if the wife did too well, but pouring through the forums tonight, I haven't seen anything to warrent that she did bad. I got a Fromm 72R, w/ an Illinois 361 strop and Fromm dressing to go with that. Of course, a couple of different types of glycerin soaps to lather up, and I already had a Burma Shave brush..

I've gone through all of the help files, and read, read, read. I might note that a couple of the guides to seem to contradict themselves when it comes to strops and maintainence of them. Specifically, I recall one saying to put dressing on the linen side, and another saying not to. Hopefully someone can clear that up for me.

I'm weary to actually try the initial shave (was everyone?), as the razor isn't passing the hair test out of the box. This seems to be the case for most razors from what I take, so I guess I will have to look into getting a hone beforehand. Hell, I might as well pick up an ebay razor while I'm at it too, so I don't multilate my new one with the learning curve. Any other tips you guys might give a newbian?

Also, HUGE props to all of you guys for putting together such a wealth of information about a lost artform.