I just received (from a friend of mine who had ruined the edge with improper honing) an almost brand new straight razor (Dovo, me thinks) and an equally new norton 8k/4k. As I said above my friend had purchased all of this thinking that he wouldn't have any problems. I'm not sure if he honed it out of the box or decided it wasn't sharp enough or what but he ruined the edge on it and now I'm not sure if it could cut butter. He handed it all off to me after giving up because he knew I was interested in getting my own.

I don't want to screw this thing up anymore but I would love to get it into shving condition. Do any of you think that theres anyway that a complete novice could get this thing up and shaving on my own? If so, what would you all recommend I do?