Quote Originally Posted by Utopian View Post
(Sometimes I forget that some people are optimists.)
This coming from a Utopian? That's weird.

To the OP, I too began my straight shaving career with a razor I wasn't sure was shave ready, and then by practicing honing on E-Bay razors with varying degrees of success. By starting all these different aspects of the craft at once, the learning curve is steeper, but you'll get there eventually if you persevere. For me, I'm just now getting really sharp razors, and that's (I'm guessing) because I added a Chromium oxide loaded balsa and a Diamond paste loaded felt on which to finish my honing. I guess these were the weapons lacking from my arsenal, because there's no more tugging.