I shouldn't have used the word "impatient" in my post because it's imparting the wrong impression. Excited to get started might have been a more accurate description and I knew that the shave wasn't going to be great but I didn't care so much about that at the time as I did just getting started. For me, when something grabs my attention, I enjoy diving in because it give me more new experiences than taking it one step at a time. I could have purchased a new shave ready razor, the rest of the shaving accessories and called it good- sending the blade out when it needs to be sharpened. But that's not really my style. I bought several old razors because I wanted to learn to rescale, restore, hone, strop and shave. Sure, it's more challenging but it also more rapidly identifies areas of improvement and provides a more complete experience, which for me, is the point of doing this. I'm not demanding instant success, I'm not expecting someone else to tell me every possible place that I'm doing something wrong and I don't expect to achieve a perfect edge the first or second time I attempt honing a blade. I do expect to spend more time watching videos, reading threads and thinning blades until I achieve the results I want and achieving results that I want takes practice (and patience ;-), which is what I'm doing.

I do appreciate the feedback everyone has given.

Gssixgun, I assume you're Glen? I added my location and , as it turns out, you're only about 3.5 hours from me. It's funny, when I'm reading things online, I automatically assume the people responding are thousands of miles away. I wonder why that is?