This is the ebay page with the strop info: looks to be an off brand. The black side is leather, rather soft, but thin, and even when I pull it tight there is a bow in the middle of the leather:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...#ht_2018wt_907
regarding this post: "The razor was actually never shave ready from Dovo it was sharp but the bevel was not well established so it went bye bye rather fast..."
...I suspected that may have been the case. I've read that DOVO's "shave ready" blades are rarely shave-ready from many posts. I was wondering why, after 300-500 passes on the kitayama finishing hone, It doesn't seem to be any sharper than when I started. The hone's not taking off enough metal to reset the bevel. I assumed that since the razor was sharp, a finishing hone was all I needed.
(btw, for interested persons, I bought a 3inch wide hone so I wouldn't have to learn the x-pass, and to simplify the process. I've never rolled the edge, taken the spine off the stone when passing, or otherwise done anything inappropriate to the edge. My passes never had any part of the edge lift off the stone, and I never used any undue pressure on the blade. The stone was always wet with a slurry i made with a slurry stone, included with the kitayama stone)
So, then, my question is this: can I set the bevel with the 4,000 grit belgian blue I ordered(should be here by tuesday), or do I have to go out and really buy a 1,000 grit stone to set the bevel? I don't mind if it takes longer, I just want to know if it can be done, or if there is a reason I don't know about that requires the bevel to be set with a lower-grit stone?
BTW, all you other beginners out there, if you bought a "shave ready" razor that's sharp but not sharp enough to shave, don't try to "touch it up" with a finishing stone as smooth as glass. I liken it to trying to finish-sand a rough piece of timber with a sanding block instead of running it through the surface planer first :banghead: