+1. You may well find a good vintage straight for a tenner, but it's likely that it will require specialist attention. The path of least resistance would be to buy a shave ready razor from Neil, a hone and a strop, then you're all set to learn how to do the maintenance, but crucially, you can shave with it from the outset, and you'll know what a razor in good fettle should be like. I've just honed an old razor, and shaved with it, but I'm not kidding myself: it would be better subbed out to someone who really knows what he's doing.