Quote Originally Posted by BobH View Post
Welcome to the forum. I had the same reaction as JOB15, "Wow where to start", when I read your post. When I started to learn to shave with a straight razor I also decided I was going to learn to hone at the same time also. All I had to go on was the vids available on the net and no mentor near me to help. It was a loooong hard learning curve. It's not impossible to do both at the same time and you could easily be quicker on the up take than I was but just be prepared for a ton of frustration.

Most things relating to shaving with a straight razor appear deceptively easy to do. You received a shave ready razor, used a few times stropping it as you went along and now it is dull and tugging. Could be it became dull quickly through poor shaving technique and/or poor stropping technique. Both shaving and stropping appear easy to do and I did the same thing myself when starting out. Learning to hone is easily a notch or two above that in appearing deceptively easy till you try it the first time.

Personally, I would send your razor out to be honed until you get proficient enough in shaving and stropping to make an edge last. Get a couple of good condition vintage razors to practice honing on and use you good razor as a guide for the type of edge you are trying to achieve honing. If at all possible find a mentor near you for some in person instructions on shaving, making lather, stropping and honing. That should make things easier and shorten the learning curve.

Bob
Add a couple more notches if it's a Sheffield wedge with a bunch of hone wear