Hello all,

after 20 years with a beard I recently started shaving again and now have a Merkur HD DE razor, decent brush and shaving cream. I'm thinking of trying a straight razor and have been reading through this forum for a few days. I now have a few questions I hope you can help me with.

I'm on a reasonably tight budget, so I'm thinking of ordering a couple of the Wapienica 5/8 NOS razors and a strop from "open razor' on ebay. I'm a hobby woodworker so I have Norton stones in 4k and 8k. I'm planning on sending one of the razors to Lynn for sharpening so I have a benchmark to judge by, and a sharp razor to start shaving with. The other I'll keep so i can learn to hone and sharpen a razor myself without risking messing up an expensive one in the learning process.

I live in the UK but will be in Canada during the autumn and thought I'd take advantage of the cheaper shipping to get a razor sent to Lynn.

So,

1. do you think this is a good route to go for someone new to straight shaving?
2. Is the strop sold with the wapi's reasonable as a first strop? I thought of getting one of the strops that Tony sells at the Well Shaved Gentleman, but figured if I might damage one in the learning process, then a cheaper one might be better to start with.
3. What would I gain from a strop like Tony's heirloom strop.
4. Would I be better off buying a different razor, perhaps from Lynn, rather than the wapi?
5. Would I need anything other than my stones and a single strop at least to get me started.

Thanks for your help, I'm looking forward to this journey.

Cheers,

Justin.