Got one, now what?

[chevy1951]

I just bought an old Shumate. I liked that it was made in St Louis, so I threw in a low ball bid. I ended up winning it, $20 after shipping. It looks decent enough and even had the ~100 year old cardboard box with it. A couple questions come to mind.
1) Where should I send it to get checked out and properly honed? I am sure on this forum that list is a mile long, but I am a DE guy new to straights.
2) What do I need to buy? Strops, pastes, etc? Beginner quality is fine. I'd like to keep this economical if possible.
3) Any how to videos that you can recommend? Stropping methods, etc. I just bought a shavette that takes full DE blades and have gotten one shave with that so far. Pretty smooth and no cuts/weepers. I will practice with that until the Shumate is shave ready.
Thanks in advance

 

[feltspanky]

Welcome to B&B Chevy1951. Visit the Wiki tab at the top of the page. You can find the answers to most of your questions. After researching the Wiki, the B&B members will be more than happy to answer your questions.

 

[chevy1951]

I've been on B&B for a while now. I've just stayed over on the DE side of things. The wiki is nice, but it gives basic definitions of things. I was looking for more subjective advice. I know there are different schools of thought for the equipment, so I was wanting a pro/con list for each. As far as the vids go, I know there are bunches online. Some probably from places I know and respect, but I was hoping for a short list of good ones before I waste my time sorting through the plethora of videos available. I'll probably check out geofatboy for vids and whipped dog or maggards for honing. I just wanted to expand my search past the basic and find out some of the finer points.
Thanks again

 

[rockviper]

Welcome to the wonderful world of straight shaving! You thought you had ADs before?

Honing: Doc226, Baymonte and others here provide some great edges. I hone my own (poorly by comparison)

Strops: Contact Larry at WhippedDog for a poor man's strop kit (or a rich mans). That will be more than enough to carry you for a while.

Videos: Thers always Chimencsh's classic, but you would be VERY well served to pop over to the Journals and Diaries subforum and start reading about how others have started out.