I finally did it. The set that I ordered from Tony Miller on Monday arrived yesterday around lunchtime. Somehow I was able to contain myself until the wife went to work and the kids were in bed. I love new toys!! Finally about 1:30 in the a.m. I headed to the shower. No hot water! Somehow the reset switch on the water heater had tripped. So I reset it and wait. An hour and a half later I had hot water. I'm pretty much a night owl so time wasn't really a concern. I got a really hot shower and then proceeded to the main event. I laid everthing out and stroped up the blade as per Tony's instructions. Not that it was needed, since the blade was VERY sharp, but it didn't want to deviate from the instructions. I whipped up the creamiest lather I could muster and slathered it onto one cheek. One thing became appearent. It was not hot. It wasn't even warm. No matter what I did it wouldn't stay hot long enough to get it on my face. Nevertheless, I persevered. I started with the right cheek. I figured since I am right handed that would be the easiest. WRONG! My arm was constantly in the way making it very difficult to see myself in the mirror. I put the razor to my face and realized something else. Angle is EVERYTHING!! Too much angle and the blade would grab and didn't want to budge. Not enough angle and it just slid down my face. I finally found an angle that wouldn't slide down my face and didn't feel like I was going to take off a layer of muscle and gingerly guided the blade down my cheek. The result was rather disappointing but I had expected that. Learning curve in effect. Once I was done with the right side I proceeded to the left. It was much easier than the right. After just a couple of passes the left side was very smooth. Nice! If I could just get the rest of my face like that life will be good. There was no way I could do my chin. Whether it was the razor (or more likely my technique) it would not shave my chin or upper lip without grizzly consequince so I lathered again and finished with my Schick Quatro. Any advice is greatly welcomed. As an aside, after shaving with soap I will never use anything else regardless of what I use to cut the whiskers. I'm even taking my mug, soap and brush when I go to my Guard drill next weekend.

Overall the shave was a success and the experience very enjoyable once I got passed the initial apprehention. I got MUCH less irritation, developed some confidence and experience, and look foward to my next str8 shave. I'm going to buy a 6/8 from William Ellis and see how that does. I do have a pretty tough beard. For anyone contemplating getting into str8 shaving, I cannot recommend Tony Miller enough. He spent around half an hour with me on the phone helping me decide what was right for me and everything I received with my set was better that I had hoped. I am VERY happy with it. Thank you Tony.