Hello from Lawrence Kansas, long time reader, first time poster (sorry, I always wanted to use that line)

Anyway, I'm a poor college kid so I need a cheap good razor that is a quality blade, not a fan of "beginner" stuff in general and dont need fancy inlays or exotic scales. I probably wont collect straight razors or rather, be allowed to collect them I don't have a brand specific but I thought some vintage razor with a blade that isnt too big but not too small, maybe a 5/8 or so and in good condition or in need of some work for a reasonable price. Enter Ebay. I found many nice looking razors but need to know a few things. Many posts I've seen mention people as good restoration options but I wanted to know whether there are any rules of thumb as far as the usual service charges go. Obviously they vary but I mean, if I buy some ancient wade and butcher used to shave george washington for 5 dollars, is it liking that a kindly member could buff and fix it up for under 60 dollars? Is it common to have to go through a lot of grinding/extensive honing and repinning/scaling for old ebay finds or should i limit myself to the 20 dollar variety not so ancient blades?
Also, I found a couple websites with limited stocks of wapi razors (none on ebay when i checked today) but most say that they are "hand-honed" so I wouldn't need a honing service. I would like to get the wapi rescaled by someone but was too shy to pm joe chandler as a n00b. Does anyone know whether he can do it? Anyone else that offers inexpensive but good services (not to say that there are not hundreds but someone who is inexpensive to work with?) I dont want anything too fancy just some nice dark wood or maybe some black "stuff". As you can tell I'm vague on scale materials so i suppose i need a master craftsman's advice too. woah. sorry for the long post lads and ladies.

post summary
I'm excited about straight razors and talk alot.
I want a vintage razor and have it honed/restored if need be by someone not me.
failing that, I want a wapi bought pre-honed (legitimately shave ready not factory honed) and I want it rescaled with some delicious dark wood or unknown substance found by hamsters and hand-tooled by aliens, or not.

Thanks, you are great for reading this.
-Alex