Thread: Honing a smile

Although I'm fairly new at this, I have enjoyed some success honing - until now. I have an ebay razor I cleaned up nicely, but it has a slight smile. I tried setting the bevel on a 250 grit stone, then moving to a 1,000 and on up. However, the bevel is wider in the center and tapers off toward each end. I can shave with it, but it doesn't pass the HHT and it's not as sharp as I'd like. Do you hone a smile differently from a straignt edge? Does the bevel need to be rapaired? Can it be?

First, you should read everything here. It's a sticky in the basic honing section. In order to hone a smile, you need to do the rolling x pattern, which is described in that FAQ. Honing at a 45 degree angle will also help. You can use the marker test or microscopic examination to see if you are cutting along the entire length of the blade. If you are not, don't bother progressing through hones until you can hone the entire length, as it's rather pointless to only sharpen the middle third of your blade. I suspect that is what is happening if the bevel is only widening in the middle.

You can remove the smile with a bread knife technique or shave with it and forget it.

Just be patient and use leading edge strokes for the smile part. It will come just give it time.

I would never breadknife a razor to get rid of a smile. Smiling razors are often preferred and lots of barber's manuals gave specific directions for how to produce a smiling blade.

A slight smile is a desirable feature in a blade IMO. This excerpt from the barber manual in the help files addresses that fact and actually details how to avoid creating a frown while maintaining a smile using the x pattern. The download displays sideways on my PC so I printed it out for ease of reading. It is really worth having IME as there is a lot of good info on both honing and stropping and I refer to it often.

Keep the smile shape, it shaves better for a lot of us. Don't worry about the bevel being wider in the middle, it should be that way. Just start computing the bevel angle at several points along the edge and you will see why.
Use a rolling X stroke for razors with a definite smile. I use a rolling X for all razors. Also use a heel leading stroke with the angle between 30-45 degrees. Use the magic marker technique to see which angle is doing the job.

Just my $.02,

Same as me randy i use a rolling x for all blade using marker test i find leading with heal wipes the marker off the full lenght of blade flat it does'nt quite get there in most cases .

I have had the most success with the rolling X... +1 on rolling x