Is a smile a good or bad thing ?

[K.T.]

I purchased a Gold Dollar 208 recently and noticed it has a smile. It's quite a smiley razor, more so than any of the 3 vintages I have.

Now I don't know too much about straights, but after doing some reading, I get the impression that a smile is not a deal breaker but that a perfectly straight blade is preferred.

It seems to me that a smiling profile would give a more forgiving shave since the ends of the blade gently slope away. But does it make honing and stropping harder?

What's the general thinking on a smiling blade?

Thanks,
K.T.

 

[Utopian]

If you look in old barber manuals, you will see specific instructions for creating a smile on the blade. The reason for it is that it will allow for a steeper scything stroke. As long as the blade is flat and the smile is not too pronounced, there should be no special accommodation needed for honing or stropping. That said, a lot of smiles (and frowns) resulted from bad honing and may be so pronounced that they are a problem. It's more difficult if the blade is not perfectly straight and doesn't lie flat on the hone.

 

[Seraphim]

In my ignorant and opinionated opinion it goes something like this:


Frown= bad. It bunches up the skin in front of the razor, resulting in uncomfortable shaves no matter what you do, and good luck trying to get a really nice edge on a frowning razor.

Straight= meh. It isn't frowning, so that's a step in the right direction. And a straight edge certainly is the easiest one to hone, just lay it on the hone and have at it, so it has that going for it.

Smile= Nirvana. The gentle curve of the blade helps smooth out the skin, and slices through whiskers like a katana weilded by a ninja cuts through anything in it;s path. Perhaps not as straightforward to hone as a dead-straight straight, but you don't get something for nothing in this world, buddy!




P.S. I just got in from a Japanese resturant here in Osaka,and have had a couple of drinks, so I may have to review what I have written at a later point in time!

 

[mrmaroon]

I like shaving with smiling blades. It makes it easier to get into the hollows of the neck area.