stroke a vector path

I'm wondering what the best way is to stroke a path.

I've created a rectangle and a shape with the bezier tool. I've tried to make the stroke thicker but can't. I've tried selecting the path/mask several ways and chosen different tools in the toolbox but no matter what I do, the Stroke option in the menu is greyed out.

is there a way to do this?
either edit the stroke afterwards - or even specify the width before drawing a path?

specify the width before drawing a path?

the width is dependent on the width you set in the tool used for the stroke. if you have a 2 px brush selected, it'll be 2px, if you have a 20px brush selected, it'll be 20px.

either edit the stroke afterwards

no. once stroked, it's committed.

thx for the response. I just discovered the Layer Styles too.