Just want to touch on something here guys. Smiling blades or other not straight not perfect razors can be honed. You need to learn how by practicing. Now most pocket knives or knives in general have quite a bit of a smile and some even have a slight frown towards the hilt.These knives are honed freehand to boot.Is it easier to hone a dead flat dead straight razor? Of course. But if you have trouble with one it only means you have to practice more. OR you can buy or mod them to be straight. Doesnt matter to me but I see some razors out there that Ive honed personally quit easily getting more flack that they deserve. One other thing I dont expect miracles from modern production. The quality on some is not great, but its easier to do these than to expect the razor show up "perfect" and be disappointed. There are many who say the straighter the better. And thats fine. But you will be limiting yourself in your search. Or you can buy 10 gds from china for $40 or so shipped and breadknife and thin them etc. (Not recommending you do that). But when you get tired of them you will get something new and be disappointed again. LOL.
Smiling blades
- Thread starter buca3152
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I don't think the issue is a smile so much as excessive warps or terrible grinding jobs... I mainly use old wedges so I am used to dealing with blades that have been through abuse but if I spend 100+ on a modern full hollow blade only for it to turn up warped or frowned from the factory or have a bevel that is weaving at the top like it is drunk it's going straight back where it came from for a refund. I accept perfection is not possible but sometimes you just have to be that guy and call out unprofessionalism/lack of care-particularly when you are met with excuses by the manufacturer... It worked when Merkur's quality control went down the tubes a few years ago. A lot of people called them out and Dovo had it sorted in like 18 months. As far as I'm concerned, if you aren't going to meet the standards of fit and finish your competitors do at the given price point, drop your pp to reflect the discrepancy. Even the ppl behind gold dollars are tying to improve. They clearly have someone on forums taking note of the negatives ppl note and at least try to rectify them.
Still hit or miss for me, but then I don't/won't "practice." Shame, too, since I prefer a smile.
A smiling blade that was made to smile is usually really easy to deal with
Sometimes my smiling edges look like they have zebra stripes: shiny in the middle and hazy on the ends.
Agreed. I have several blades that are intentionally smiling and most of them are a pleasure to hone!
yeah, you have to be mindful that you are getting consistent contact. It's worth it for how efficiently smiles shave
Question from a new honer. When dealing with a smiling blade (either designed or through use/abuse), are rolling X-strokes pretty much the go-to move? Is it possible to get good results with half strokes with different angles/on different sections of the blade? Recipe for disaster?
I've had pretty good luck using a rolling X-stroke to hit the toe of a razor with a little upturn. Less luck when I'm not getting good contact at the heel. Any tips/tricks for this? Thanks!
I've had pretty good luck using a rolling X-stroke to hit the toe of a razor with a little upturn. Less luck when I'm not getting good contact at the heel. Any tips/tricks for this? Thanks!
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- #9
I use more of a swaying x stroke for smiling blades. The rolling for me is more for blades with issues and you can do a rolling swaying x stroke for a smile with an issue. It all really depends on the blade and spine though.
I think a variation or such of the rolling X stroke is what guys do. I think another option would be using an intentionally convexed hone, although I have never used one, so can't say for sure. My understanding is that in Germany, an apprentice razor smith has to master the skill of making their own convexed hone, and is a skill in and of itself. I believe that is what they hone their razors on over there. Jarrod at TS has made his own version, and has said that it has converted him, and would do it to anyone of his coticules, if it were easier to do. He has been using this type of hone on all the razors he has sold since April.
How do you keep slurry and water on a con-vexed hone?
Very good question. I wouldn't want to take to lapping my coticule to convex it, but I could see where it would be beneficial for working on razors with issues. I did find in interesting though, that a vendor who hones lot of razors before they leave the shop, has been using one extensively for several months, and finds it revalating. This really is a case of YMMV.
Great idea. I have some vintage guitars with a 7.25 radius, which would be just about right.
It would be a fun experiment on a thinner coti with chipped/chunked edges on the main tracks
A convex stone allows one to hone a straight edge razor as if it had a smile. It would be of little value on a smiling edge as the convexity is already there in the edge.
- Thread starter
- #18
