Ok, I was posting on another thread which made me think of this experience I had awhile back. I made my first straight razor purchase at AOS. I did not know or ever hear of the concept-shave ready. A friend on facebook liked AOS so I watched one of the videos which inspired me to think about using a straight. Btw, talk about a guy rolling the edge while stropping. The Brotherhood of Shaving - The Art of Shaving Anyway, on a trip to DC I spent a bunch of money on shaving supplies, including a DOVO. My first experience was terrible. The shave left me with a bloody stump of a face. Anyway, on to the honing part. Well, I found this forum. Thank you all. I also went to an old school barber who touched up the DOVO. He did not set the bevel or anything but did a few passes on, I am guessing, a barber's hone. But what was interesting was how he was doing the passes. He placed the razor with the spine facing the long end of the hone. So the spine was parallel along the length of the hone. He made semi-circular motions-going from 'heel to toe' for the passes. So he was not using the classic X pattern. Anyone seen it done like that? Or is that the way folks use barber's hones. Thanks for your consideration.