Hi everyone,

I'm new to straight razor shaving and i'm still in the process of aquiring all the goods that i need to get started. A few months ago i bought a new DOVO inox on ebay that came "shave ready" but after trying it out a few times with painful results i realised that this clearly wasn't the case. After looking at the weath of information on this forum I figure that it's definately in need of a good stropping and most likely a honing also. I live in Australia and the only strop that i've came across in the shops was a Black Beauty that was selling for $150. Being a poor student i'm looking for something a little more economical. I've noticed a number of cheap stops going on ebay and i'm looking for advice on whether these are any good and worth buying. Any suggestions? Advice from anyone else in Aus about any local suppliers would also be great.

Cheers!!