another west coaster newbie

Been shaving for 40 years and ready to start straight razor.
Any sugestions for first razor, stone and leather? Thanks

Welcome to SRP!
I've seen your other thread so i know lots of your questiones have been answered. but i'll add my tuppence worth.
to start with you do not need a stone, you just need a razor and a strop since you already have the brush and soap.

Razors are a matter of personal taste custom made ones can set you back a few thousand or several hundred depending on your design, new factory made razors cost range from around $80 to $500, vintage razors can be found from $30 to $750. it is all subject to your choices and desires. I cannot tell the difference between a $5 flea market blade i restored and honed and i similar size/grind razor with fancy scales, filework and gold wash that i paid $400... when it comes to the shave. if you are not hung up on bright and shiny objects there are vendors that have razors and strops for around $60. if a new shiny razor is important then you will be need to spend around $120 for entry level dovo and good strop. most of the diffence in mass produced razors is cosmetic... filework, gold wash, and exotic scales, whick make no difference in the shave.

Selelct a decent vendor who offers professionally honed razors and you are good to go. vendors here, like straight razor design, vintage blades llc, classic shaving, whippeddog have excellent customer service. you could also look in the classifieds for a prehoned razor and a strop.

as for what size the 5/8 round point is an excellent place to start. for the last couple of years i have been gravitating back to using my 5/8 razors more rarely do i find myself using anything larger than a 6/8.

ask questions read the sticky posts especially this one the wiki links in there will gets you going nicely.

enjoy,
jim

thanks guys, think im going to start with a Dovo and 3" strop

Where in Kali are you.wellcome to SRP