I was just wondering where all of you guys got the idea from.

Me, I was browsing ebay and ran into my first (cheap possibly paki) straight and strop. I figured...HEY!!! this is a great idea because I HATE buying those expensive Gillette blades and go through them pretty fast.
So now I'm hooked and am trying to keep myslef from buying too much at the same time (so much for saving on those blades..... )