Lots of questions from a newbie

[travelwell72]

Been wet shaving for about 20 years but only recently started using proper wet shaving techniques.

Bought my first Merkur HD DE safety razor 9 months ago and have been hooked ever since... but have recently had a look at straight razors.

so i would like to ask some questions before i plunge into Straight Razors.

1 . how many razors do i need ? i saw a vid and this guy said that you need to rest your blade for 24 hours before your next use ( to cool down the blade he said ) ?? true or false
if it's true , then that would mean a min of 2 blades to be kept at all times..sounds a little bogus to me as i haven't heard of such a thing on this forum.

2 . with so many different sizes of blades , which one should i start with and why ? 5/8 seems the like the most talked about size .

3 . how long do i have to go before i have to hone my blade again ? i guess that depends on how many times you shave, but lets consider shaving every other day with a min of 2 passes and sometmes 3 just for fun. The reason i ask this as i can see that i might become lazy and not wish to prep my blade for 1/2 an hr each time before shaving.

4 . Strop i assume is for keeping your blade sharp inbetween your visits with the hone that you have bought .. correct ?

5 . lastly if i was to venture into Straight razors , DOVO or Thiers-Issard ( TI i guess for short )
which one is better ? i read the reviews on TI and Dovo , and it seems that TI is the sharpest but the finishing touches not as good as others ... but isn't sharpness the most important aspect of a blade anyway ?

anyway , thanks for answering these questions from a newbie