This probably is not what you want to hear as you are excited and ready to go! BUT I agree with the concensous that your razor is not sharp enough...Instead of trying to hone it yourself, send it to lynn let him hone it for you...If you dont have the patience to wait to get it back properly honed, buy a 2nd razor already honed and shave ready from lynn or tony or another member of forum...not ebay or from store vender(typically they dont arrive shave ready) you will end up owning many razors anyway...Learn to strop & shave with it...you will feel what a sharp razor shaves like...when you have mastered shaving and stroping, you have lots of time to learn proper honing tech...not everyone hones their razors, thats why lynn has honed thousands of razors...To help stretch your skin wring out wet washcloth that you used to moisturized your beard with hot water, fold it over several times and use your semi dry edge to stretch your skin down...I learned this from alex at trumpier in london 13 years ago...washcloth will grab skin where soapy fingers slip... good luck