I've been playing in the low-cost end of the razor pool -- RAD doesn't have to be expensive.

First razor was a antique-store full-hollow Wade and Butcher (lots of trouble with rust and frowning edge -- I didn't know what to look for when I bought it).

Second razor was a flea-market half-hollow Boker with broken scales (no problems, now in new scales from Thiers).

Third razor was a George Butler "Shakespeare" from eBay (edge looked like it had been used to chop wood, everything else was OK).

To check my work against, I have a new Dovo from SRD.

I'm using 3"x9" acrylic plastic on a plywood base, rather than a stone.

Sandpaper grades 600 / 1000 / 2000 grit,
followed by 5 micron microabrasive (mylar backing),
followed by 0.5 micron CrOxide on a cloth strop,
followed by a leather strop.

The nice thing about this setup is that the upfront cost is low (except for the leather strop), and the cost per razor is around $1 - $2 for paper.

Questions:

1. I suspect I should be using something between the 5 micron microabrasive and the 0.5 micron CrOxide -- any ideas?

2. I don't like cutting myself with sharp corners -- I'm trying to achieve the _opposite_ of a spike. So I'm deliberate rounding the corners (the ends of the edge) with "rolling strokes". Is this frowned upon ? Would I do better to keep the edge straight, and grind off the corners after it was sharp?

3. Any other ideas?

I want to thank everyone on SRP -- you've been incredibly helpful. I've gone from "utterly ignorant" to the dangerous place where I think I actually understand what's going on.

Charles