thank you sir just a little update: i shaved with it in an 1888 kampfe star today (saturday) and while it wasnt a GREAT shave, it was good; the blade is shave ready for sure, it just needs some fine tuning here and there, a little more honing and stropping. i gave it an hours worth on the hone again today and about 50 rounds on the stropper, so hopefully tomorrows shave will be a lot better.