A personal first..

A month into owning the Norton starter kit I have finally produced an edge worthy of my face. In the beginning, I was using waaay to much pressure and proceeding far too quickly through the grits. I also spent some time sanding and saddle-soaping my strop. This all came together nicely and I had a very decent shave.

I did notice a lacking keenness. I am pretty certain its due to simply coming off of the 8k. Luckily, tomorrow, I can play around with CrOx, SRD webbed fabric, and the Premium IV. I finally feel worthy of moving on from my beginner strop, having put it through enough hell.

sounds like your getting there.as for lacking keeness of 8k , you should be lacking no keeness of 8k you should be able to shave of 8k n easily may be lack a little smoothness. then cro.ox will smotth the edge nicley only if your 8k edge is sharp.
i would just do more small pyramids untill you dial in on shave readiness at 8k level.

A heartfelt congratulations is in order...to many happy shaving sessions :nj

Gotta agree with Gary. That 8k will get your blade keen enough to shave, but I've noticed that it isn't as smooth as it is if you come off that 8k and go do a dozen laps on a pasted strop. If your blade doesn't quite feel keen enough, you might have to go back to the 4k for a while.

On a related note, glad it's all coming together for you! :) You can feel confident that most folks that try straight shaving never make it as far as you.

It's always a great feeling when your efforts start paying off.

One goal reached, now for the next :) Keep at it and joy will be your :)

Last night, I took a couple of my razors that were very, very sharp and did a stroke on the 4k, and 5 on the 8k until I didn't notice any improvement and you guys were absolutely right. HHT was a success. Although, I think the hair on my head resists the HHT, as not all so readily pop. I suppose I will find out when my razor gets back from Lynn this week! That will really give me a scale to judge these razors on.

There is a new issue though.. I need to find a less noticeable spot to test these razors than my arm hair!

i use very top of leg. i no hht is not the final test as shave is but after 8k linen/leather you should be able to passhht. if not i go back to 4k/8k. when using manmade hones i don't come of 1k untill i get a good tpt and can remove arm hair fairly well. then i work on 4k in my case 5k naniwa untill i get the ultimate tpt. then i move to 8k for only 10 to 25 laps.

+1 on getting a DFS at the 8k level. It really is best to persevere at that level until you're getting close and comfortable shaves off the 8k. If you go beyond 8 before your edge is adequately keen you are spinning your wheels. Congrats on sticking with it and on the progress you're making. :tu