and a few days since I attempted my first partial straight razor shave. I still consider myself a newbie, especially from some of the shave videos I see. Takes me 35 minutes to do a three pass with stropping between and after the passes. I am only up to 3 razors . I am really partial to 4/8 razors although the more skilled seem to like the wider blades. This forum has helped so much as straight razor shaving has a long long learning curve that I have only started. I initially thought it would save me money, but when you find the nice nice soaps and brushes and after shaves and colognes, not the case. But the shave and the smells and the adoring wife, that is money and time well spent. Left non-dominant hand continues to be better than right, which I guess is odd. Thanks to Lynn, Don and the many many people that have helped and I guess I am back to lurking.