It can be as simple as a strop, a brush, and a swaty. But because we have access to a large variety of honing media, we often go overboard. Does that help?

In the old days, the cutlers could put a decent edge on a barbers razor, and then the barber kept them going with a razor hone of his choice. So the same thing can be done today. Have one of the guys in member services hone your razor, then keep it going with a swaty. I don't think you'll find it necessary to have it resharpened more than once per year. 20 bucks once per year, is dramatically cheaper than Mach3 heads. And the shaves are better too.

Also, just for perspective: If you buy the 4/8, and only hone your one razor, once per year or every 6 months, that 4/8 will last your lifetime. Divide the cost by how many more years you plan to live, and it's not that big of an expenditure. Hope that helps a little. You have a lot of questions, and I don't think I answered them all. I'd suggest spending some time with the search function in the top right corner of your screen. There's years of open source information there.

But to re-iterate: I think most of us can agree that we have way more gear than we need, and that it's totally possible to use a straight razor successfully and happily with less than half of what most of us choose to use. Making this a hobby opens the door to a whole new world of "stuff" we all wanna try for ourselves. While just using a SR doesn't really involve nearly so much gear.