Congrats Willow...like you, new to razor honing, I watched-read the material offered on honing @SRP, asked a couple of question about issues I noticed on a practice blade I selected and received response from Avatar and GSSIXGuns, (Rob & Glen), pronto. Took my time, followed pyramid format, was careful on maintaining a proper stroke and though I wasn't expecting a good result...had success.

In addition, before purchasing a couple of honing/stropping supplies, I had occassion to ask a couple of questions from Lynn...he returns my msg and winds up giving me a phone call and shooting the breeze on honing for about 20 minutes with advice/suggestion and "bewares"...never expected that kind of friendly, "what can I do to help you out" response. I must say that despite my limited time and communication here, the member profile is top-notch...a lot of really fine people here that are only to glad to straighten things out for a new guy w/questions.

Regards...Scott