If you're just starting out, meaning learning to strop still, just send the razor to somebody. I've been sending mine to @cudarunner on this site. You don't want too many variables in play at once. I want somebody who KNOWS how to hone while I make sure my stropping is good. I learned early that when I thought I needed to learn honing, I really just needed to learn stropping. I'm up to getting around 3 months of daily shaves from a razor between honing, and that's worth $20. That's my benchmark for when I start honing myself.