Doesn't a smiling blade require the use of a Rolling X stroke? I've tried doing this and it's a lot more difficult than the other strokes.
If you don't want to bother with an advanced stroke, wouldn't removing the smile so that you can do regular X Strokes be the ideal solution?
This probably isn't what the pro's do, since they can most likely do a rolling X stroke with no problem; But if you just want to do X Strokes, it would seem that BK'ing the blade is the simplest and most straight forward solution.
I'm new at honing as well, but I'm just trying to play Devil's Advocate and find a case for his actions.