Just had three ebay razors honed by Larry Andro. They should be here tomorrow. He told me one had a frown and the other a smile. He was able to correct. I suppose smile is when there is more metal towards the middle and vice versa for frown. They looked great to me before going to Larry however I'm a newbie and did not place them on a flat surface just eyeballed them. How does this occur? Is it a matter of poor honing or a matter of the stone not being lapped properly (which I suppose is a type of poor honing)?
Smiles and frowns
- Thread starter drjay9051
- Start date
Usually just poor honing technique causes smiles and frowns. Having said that I quite like a smile on some straights, especially some of the real antique blades.
- Thread starter
- #3
Doesnt the smile make it difficult to shave? In other words less area is covered per pass.Why do you like it aside from the fact that your razor is smiling at you??
J
Me, too. I like the old smiling blades. I believe it was on this forum that someone told me that it was often done deliberately to enhance the scything ability. As to frowns, it seems it must be just very poor honing.
Not at all. As long as the smile isn't too pronounced, it's great to shave with.
How much of the blade do you think you use to cut with in a stroke? You don't use too much of it. A smiling blade cuts in a slight scything action, it goes down and across at the same time. Only slightly but it does make for a nice cut. Look at most framebacks, the blade was designed with quite a large smile.
- Thread starter
- #6
Interesting! Anyway, my straights will be arriving devoid of any emotions be they sad or happy. Lets see how they shave.
Thanks for the info
J
Thanks for the info
J
