New & need advice

[McBlade]

I'll second the comment about not cutting paper!

If you want to maintain a really sharp edge diamond pasted balsa is probably worth a look. I kind of like a relaxing shave with a milder edge. Much less likely to get nicks or cuts but it won't shave quite as close and it might not work at all for an ATG pass.

 

[Alum of Potash]

Being a carpenter by trade my stones are good quality and I'm familiar with sharpening tools. [. . .] I'll practice my honing on cheaper razors or it could get quite expensive

Looks like your on a good path with the T-I. What stones and hones do you have already for carpentry use? You could always practice on the Titan if you still have it.

P.S. If you like the Invisible Edge's edge in the end. You should ask them what honing and stropping sequence they used to arrive at "shave readiness." That way, if you want to maintain things on your own, you have an indication of what works for you. For example, if they ended honing with a coticule followed by a crox-pasted strop. You could use a crox-pasted strop to maintain things once the edge starts falling off. Then head back to a coticule when the pasted strop fails to bring things back. The main thing, though, is to get your plain or daily stropping technique down. Many a beginner (myself included) has ruined a nice edge as received through bad stropping. If the edge as received from the Invisible Edge is truly shave-ready, you should shave with it without stropping the first time to determine how the edge feels. Then, with proper stropping, it should feel the same or even better the next time.

 

[stone and strop]

I can cut paper and shave arm hair with my hatchet with no effort as well as any knife.
As stated - you should not cut paper to test the edge.
I am a Carpenter as well and know that most do not use very high grit stones. 8k is as high as I've seen used by anyone personally and it is RARE.
Razors begin their journey to finish honing at that point.
It would be worth sending it out to have it honed professionally to get a good baseline of what it should be like, but some may not accept it for honing being a Titan razor.