Building a strop and new to straights

So I have a shave ready straight coming this week. It will be my fist foray into straights and strops. I have a great leather shop that I buy all of my leather and hardware from and I make a lot of belts and wallets. I also like sharpening knives (kitchen and EDC). While I getting better at both, the latter could use some improvement. I thought I had it narrowed down to a 2x20 piece of veg tanned leather hanging on a "D" ring but is it better to start with a multi sided wood strop? One side loaded, one side not? I have also had decent luck with the chromium that I have in a bar but have read a lot about the inconsistencies of the size of the paste. Is the more expensive paste worth the money for straights? I am sorry that I am sure these questions have been asked a million times in these parts so if these questions can be answered in a link, feel free to do that. Also, is Murray Carter's ideas about sharpening used here?

personal pref on hanging of paddle I guess. I prefer the hanging strop unless its for travel. I use horse hide but there are different leathers used. 2 1/2 strop is most common 2 inch is a tad narrow. some even use 3". I don't use pastes so cant help you there but remember if you paste your only strop you wear the razor at every stropping.

I will have to keep the width in mind. Since I am building my own, the cost for a wider one is moot. I don't know if the leather co I go to generally has horse, but that is my first preference. They have a really big selection, I just generally don't swing for horse for belts. It squeaks a lot.

The wider the leather the more prone to cupping. 2-1/2 seems like a sweet spot, but many makers do cut 3 inchers as well.