So, I've been shaving with my straight for about two months, but between learning to strop properly, some bad shaves with completely wrong angles, and dropping my razor once, I now need to bite the bullet and decide if I want to learn to hone, or send my razor out.

I want to learn to hone, so that might be reason enough, but I find it a little intimidating and confusing. There is so much about grits and different stones and the difference between setting an edge and touching up an edge that I really am unsure of what my needs actually are.

What I have gathered so far is that a good all around beginner stone is the Norton 4k/8k combo. I dont want to cut corners but another 80 bucks might not be in the cards...

The flip side is the problem that it is around 30 dollars to get a razor honed once you factor in shipping, and I'm without my razor for that time frame.

My end goal in straight shaving is to be self sufficient, able to handle everything on my own. I don't need my razors to be works of art, I just want a clean shave!

I have a second razor, but I need to put a set of scales on it... It was a taylors eye witness 1000 which I have read is a good razor, so hopefully soon I will have two in the rotation, but that would be another 30 dollars to hone that one as well, after which I am almost to the same cost as a hone!

So the real question is, what is the best advice you can give me about honing, I am looking for the most cost effective means of keeping my razors sharp, one is a full honing, the other mostly just a touch up, both carbon steel. Can a novice figure this out? I've seen all the videos online and read everything here, and it all cautions me away from it, but I am pretty meticulous with my hands (lots of fly tying and other detail oriented work) and I have a pretty good understanding of what I need to do and how to do it, it is just getting to practicing it.

A recommendation for a good hone would be the most appreciated, as I read over this it sounds like I have already made up my own mind... =]