Dear Fellows,

Today, I had one of those rare opportunities where I was home alone without my wife and my baby girl and I thought I had to make the most of it. I just could not resist it any longer: I took the Vintage Dovo Straight razor that my wife's grandmother had given me for X-mas, stropped it as well as I could on the paddle that I was also given, prepped and lathered up with Fitjar Telemark soap (great scent: like a 17 century ship yard or a peaty whiskey) and attempted a few downward strokes. Although I had never done this before, it felt strangely natural. I did not take off a lot of stubble but it felt really good, a bit like the pride you feel when doing something out of the ordinary. I unfortunately managed a tiny weeper just where I set down the blade but it was not bad enough to dissuade me from doing this again. I finished the shave with my DE and again the switch from the straight felt strangely awkward although I have been shaving confidently with my Merkur HD for 7 months.
So obviously, I will send away the straight to have it honed before further attempts and get myself a hanging strop on that subject and here is my question: I live in Germany and I do not want to spend a fortune on something that might not stick to me, so I was wondering, given the choice would you get a cheap DOVO strop or the beginner Miller strop?
I felt very inspired by "Luc's" shave diary when he started Straight shaving and I think I might do something quite similar myself sometime in the not so distant future. I hope I can count on your support.