I just want to add-- not the last word, but a word of encouragement.
@smorgana , I don't doubt that you'er getting good shaves. When I started out, trying to learn to hone, about a year and a half ago, I was using almost exactly the same tools. A 3k/8k Sharp Pebble stone from Amazon and CrOx on a nylon strop. Somewhere along the line I picked up a natural stone that was popular with the youtube crowd. I had no magnification, no real way to get the stone flat, and no real idea what I was doing. But I managed to get some edges that would shave (CrOx will cover up a LOT of honing sins) and enjoyed those shaves more than any shaves I'd done before with carts or electrics.
If you stick around you'll get lots of advice. More than you want, really. Most of it will be good, some of it will be very good, and some of it will be contradictory--even the good advice. You don't have to follow any of it, of course--what you're doing now is working for you, so you can afford to take it all under consideration and incorporate what you want.
I will say, though, regardless of how you go about things, in a year you're going to look back at the great shaves you're having today and marvel at how much better they've gotten.
@smorgana , I don't doubt that you'er getting good shaves. When I started out, trying to learn to hone, about a year and a half ago, I was using almost exactly the same tools. A 3k/8k Sharp Pebble stone from Amazon and CrOx on a nylon strop. Somewhere along the line I picked up a natural stone that was popular with the youtube crowd. I had no magnification, no real way to get the stone flat, and no real idea what I was doing. But I managed to get some edges that would shave (CrOx will cover up a LOT of honing sins) and enjoyed those shaves more than any shaves I'd done before with carts or electrics.
If you stick around you'll get lots of advice. More than you want, really. Most of it will be good, some of it will be very good, and some of it will be contradictory--even the good advice. You don't have to follow any of it, of course--what you're doing now is working for you, so you can afford to take it all under consideration and incorporate what you want.
I will say, though, regardless of how you go about things, in a year you're going to look back at the great shaves you're having today and marvel at how much better they've gotten.