Honing help.

Hello there, I have a question. I have a rather nice collection of straight razors and I am at the moment in my year where I can begin to hone some of them. The question is this : how do I tell if I need to hone vs spending time on the strop? I have a few blades that will take a few hairs and was wondering if I should strop or use light honing.

I am also wondering where to look for the best demos/reading on stropping /honing.
Thanks!

A strop will keep the edge for awhile if done properly and then a good finisher like an Apache. JNAT, Coticule etc.. with just water and a few light laps will refresh the edge quite nicely if it was honed properly and maintained correctly on a quality strop, I normally refresh on a finisher every 8-10 shaves but now since I have 2 weeks worth of striaghts in my rotation it's hard to remember when last refreshed but as long as your getting comfortable shaves don't worry.

When stropping isn't bringing the edge 'up' to where your shave is where you want it - then you can try a touchup on a finisher.

Ok, i got it.. I have a couticle and a ahconite razor hone.

The couticle has two parts to it.

Nice Coticule - looks like it came with a slab of BBW.
The Coti is prob your best bet here. The barber's hone does look to be in good shape though.
Gotta try 'em and see what you wind up with!