I think you may need to do some reading in the beginner's section of the Wiki.
You should start with a properly honed shave ready razor. You strop before every shave. When you feel that the razor is diminishing in its performance, you hone on the barber hone doing only 4-6 laps, then you strop and shave. The hone is only for occasional touch ups to maintain the edge in a sharp condition. The stropping is done daily to re-align the extremely thin edge.