Thanks again, everyone, for your input. I will certainly be seeking professional honing for my vintage razor. In the meantime, I purchased a professionally honed GD (gasp!) razor to practice my stropping technique. The last thing I want to do is purchase a good strop and chop it to bits with bad technique. I seem to have gotten it down, and didn't cut my inexpensive strop even once.

Everything was going well, so I gave in to temptation and went for my first shave on about two days' growth. Thanks to the reading I've been doing here on the forum, I stuck with one pass WTG, and did only the flatter parts of my face. For the chin and neck, I switched back to my DE razor. While I didn't get a super close shave, it felt great- no nicks, no pulling, even with the left hand. I'm sure I'll achieve a close shave once I've got the angles figured out, but for now, I'm glad to say that my first straight shaving experience was a great one. I'm definitely hooked.

I'm really looking forward to starting with my vintage razor, but until that's been honed, I'll keep on practicing with the GD.

Thanks again to Lynn for compiling great videos and information here on the forum, and to everyone who has taken the time to reply.