Greetings from down under Gents,

Just stopping by to introduce myself and thank you all for this great forum.
I got into straight razor shaving about 15 years ago when I inherited a razor I've had a hard time identifying. It's marked:

"Extra Hollow Ground"
"Es=ex Razor"
"Wald Solingen" Made in Germany.

It's a 5/8" extra hollow with what looks like bone scales. I shaved with it for a while, but busy life took over, and I found it hard to keep sharp.
A couple months ago I got sick of the electric shaver and the plastic disposables. So I lurked around this place and learnt alot and bought a new Dovo Bismarck with a 3" Latigo strop and a set of Shapton stones from SRP to get the Es=ex back in shape.

That's been a frustrating journey! I'm a woodworker, and I maintain all my own tools, but getting a razor sharp is on a completely different planet. I'm a bit frustrated with the Shaptons (4k, 8k, & 16k) - just couldn't seem to get an edge off them. I finally managed to get an edge off of my trusty 8k Japanese waterstone followed by CrOx on a balsa strop. But I'm still not at a stage where I feel I can confidently go from blunt to HHT5. I wish I could find a local honemeister to learn from, but I don't think there are too many around Canberra - and if there are, I'm not too sure about how to find them.

Anyway, thank-you all for the great site. I'll keep learning, and hope to eventually contribute one day.

Cheers,
Murray