I completed my first shave with my new Jstr8, thanks O_S. When it arrived I tried it and it seemed not quite shave ready, I was trying to use the Ura side though. I spent some time last night trying out my new shoubu asagi which I got from a discount source(not 330mate). I took my time and followed the directions I have found around here for honing a Jstr8, not religiously but they did give me a starting point. I payed more attention to the photos as they seem to contradict the words below them. I did drop back to a 1k just to blunt the points a bit, just to make me feel a little safer. Today I went for another try and it shaved great. I used the Ura side towards my face on my left face, the omote side on my right face, then the neck I did omote on left, and ura on my right neck. I did three passes WTG(N-S),XTG and an opposite XTG. Alternating between the ura and omote each pass. When I was finished I had a very comparable shave to my Wstr8, not bad for a first try and even better in some spots thanks to the smaller size (#1). The areas where I used the ura more were smoother and more comfortable than the areas where the omote was used more, imo, but that could of just been better angles I guess. I also thought the razor felt better and easier to manuever while shaving with the ura towards my face. Next shave I am going to go for an ura only shave, the one after that an omote only shave, that is if I can figure out how to get both sides of the razor to every spot, and do another comparison. I love the way these razors shave and wish I would of found them sooner, the description I have seen comparing them to a sports car is spot on. If you havent tried one yet, I say go for it. On a side note this was my first razor to get shaving sharp, talk about satisfaction, shaving with a razor you sharpened yourself feels like a quite an accomplishment, I havent been able to get the smile off my face since, , see.