Thread: New Razor Honing Question

Originally Posted by wdwrx

This gets me every time I read about someone doing this... Why would you remove a smile? A smile is generally considered a feature, not a flaw, though I can understand a YYMV thing.

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.

I absolutely would not recommend breadknifing to remove a smile. Its totally unnecessary and all you're doing is making the razor duller. Its far easier and quicker to learn how to do the rolling X than to breadknife down to a totally square edge and try to reset the bevel from there.

I cant really think of a situation where breadknifing is a good thing to do. You can hone chips out with X strokes and circles, no problem and anything thats so big you cant hone it out that way may well be severe enough to finish the razor off totally.

As a rule of thumb, avoid breadknifing!

Originally Posted by tmac123

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?

I can accept this as a reason to remove a smile. And, if a blade has only a very small smile, and was originally configured to have an absolutely flat, straight edge, I will sometimes breadknife to remove the smile. But, only if a very slight smile.

By and large, I live with the blade as it exists. Even those blades where tip end has been honed into an exaggerated smile, I hone it as is.

Of course, every frown must be wiped off the razor's face!

I was just pondering and trying to think outside of the box... especially since breadknifing is so dramatic.

If you had a razor with a slight smile; could you just continue to hone on a 1k stone until the bevel formed naturally on the toe and heel of the blade?

Originally Posted by tmac123

I was just pondering and trying to think outside of the box... especially since breadknifing is so dramatic.

If you had a razor with a slight smile; could you just continue to hone on a 1k stone until the bevel formed naturally on the toe and heel of the blade?

Smile and the world smiles with you. An old saying I just made up. Here is the 1961 barber manual excerpt on honing and stropping from the SRP Wiki help files. Read it and when you're done you will smile when you find a razor with a smiling blade. The rolling x is a lot easier to learn than restoring a bevel on a breadknifed razor. IME anyway.

Hi there. I happen to have a gold dollar razor and have honed it down sharp enough to have a good shave and have passed the HHT.

Here is a picture of my razor:


Here are the tips:
-8k is not fine enough for a razor. I would suggest getting a 10k+ stone for refinement.

1, Use 4K side of the stone, put the razor flat in the stone and with the edge pointing out, push the blade evenly out. DON'T change the side of the blade. Keep honing this way until you get a micro-serration, other people called this Micro-serration, burs.

2, Change the side of the blade. Do the same thing as step 1.

3, change the side of the stone to 8K. Do the same thing as steps 1-2.

4, use very little pressure with 8k stone, do the same thing as step 3.

Now, you should get a shave-ready edge on your razor, but to get a better shave, a 10k+ stone is needed to refine the edge.

Originally Posted by jinnaraka

1, Use 4K side of the stone, put the razor flat in the stone and with the edge pointing out, push the blade evenly out. DON'T change the side of the blade. Keep honing this way until you get a micro-serration, other people called this Micro-serration, burs.

2, Change the side of the blade. Do the same thing as step 1.

This may be how you hone a working knife but it will rapidly wear a razor.
Some of us have razors that are 200 years old & they didn't get that old being honed as you describe.