Thread: Smiling razor...help!

I've seen some posts on here already about honing a smiling razor. I found a very nice Shumate Tungsteel smiling razor at a local antique place for $12.50. I was able to clean it up very nicely with some MAAS. Then I went to hone it up.

I'm a newbie at honing. I have managed to touch up several of my straights on a Norton 4K/8K combo, but they just needed a quick touch-up.

But to start from scratch on the Shumate is giving me trouble. There are no chips or anything to be really worried about, and I started with 1K grit wet/dry sandpaper on glass, then moved up to the Norton. I got a decent edge, but not great. It passed (barely) the HHT, so I tried to shave with it, and I definitely am not there yet.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

First you need to make sure your bevel is ok, and goes all the way to the edge. Use a magic marker on your bevel and give the razor a few normal strokes on the norton. The marker should be coming off evenly along the entire edge. If it isn't, it could be because your stroke is off, or because the bevel isn't there yet - you'll have to do some interpretation and experimentation to figure out which one it is. Fortunately, smiling edges make it easy to only hone on one section at a time, so it's pretty quick work to fix any oddities in the bevel.

Once the bevel is set, only then should you work on sharpness. Pressure is your enemy here as always, but even more so with a smiling edge because any pressure (or weight for that matter) is concentrated on a tiny patch of blade. So towards the end of the cycle you may need to counteract some of the blade's weight. I do this by folding the scales backwards a bit until the razor's edge will just barely stay on the stone - even better if the edge won't stay on the stone without some help, that way you can use the suction from the water to provide the honing pressure (once the razor is moving and the suction effect is going, let off pressure from your hand and let the suction do the work of holding the edge against the stone).

Try using a 45 degree angle with your honing stroke as well on a smiling blade.

Lynn