One more piece of advice that I don't think has been said recently or at least enough times, especially with all the talk from the more senior members (not just you, Denny) about the multiple stones they have. Playing with many stones is fine, but to master one, especially if you are just learning to hone on a coticule, it is crucial to stick to one stone. Put your others away. Give them to your best friend to hold onto. The subtle differences in how use each stone during honing (not the end result, which is pretty negligible) is enough to be a burden if you don't have enough experience yet on one.
Ralfy: Yup. In fact, I wanted a newly-made razor for a very cheap price, and I just got a Dovo that was supposedly just honed by a so-called "pro". It looked like it was honed on a ~4k synthetic followed by stropping on diamond-pasted felt. (The wear and scratches on the spine and bevel face looked like those from a ~1-4k stone, and it is very easy to tell if a razor was stropped on an treated felt strop by looking at both sides of the bevel thanks to the grain of felt.) The HHT result was mediocre with lots of tugging. The razor split hairs, but I had to hold onto the hair tightly so that it wouldn't pull the hair out of my hand. So yes, be careful if you use a "pro"-honed razor as a reference point.
Paul: That's pretty cute that your daughter is so intrigued and especially good since your own head won't offer any test hairs!
Denny: Depends on what you mean by single-edge utility blades. The single-edge blades you can get in the shaving isle of a drug store will work. The kind you get at a hardware store is laughable. They're as sharp as a Walmart generic-brand kitchen knife.
Drybonz: I have never sent a razor to Ambrose for sharpening (or to anyone, actually), but he is probably pretty reliable. (I was too stubborn to want to pay someone to hone my blades for me. Fortunately (or not?), I have received enough shave-ready razors from enough sources to know how my own honing has progressed.) Ambrose sees a small enough batch of razors to actually spend time on quality assurance. I also know that he gets a kick out of looking at every edge under a microscope, which at least serves as a basic sanity-test. And, I trust many of the people who give him praise. (Edit: ) Also, make sure that your test hairs are cleanly washed. A bit of oil on them will completely throw off your test results.
