Thread: Advice on honing a smiling wedge.

I decided I'd challenge myself by trying to restore and hone up a rusted up old Joseph Rodgers 6/8 true wedge. It had so much hone wear that I needed to use five layers of tape to get a bevel set. I managed to get a good bevel set all along the blade except for the half inch on the toe. It seems to me that the blade is less ground there and that I'm having a really hard time getting the edge to consistently contact the stone. Anyone have any tips on how to deal with that?

You need to roll the razor as it goes up and down the hone so every part of the blade makes contact with the stone.

Try these 3 part videos by gssixgun on honing a smiling wedge:
gssixgun honing a smiling wedge part 1 wmv
gssixgun honing a smiling wedge part 2 wmv
gssixgun honing a smiling wedge part 3 wmv

Hope this helps!

Charlie Lewis has a great video on YouTube that shows a smilling blade being honed. The video is set up right in front of the stone so it's a great view of the razor coming straight down the hone. It shows the rocking of the razor just right

Thanks for all the tips. I've managed to get a bevel set all along the edge now but it's sort of uneven (much wider at the toe than the heel). I might need to grind away a bit on it to get the blade geometry better.

Aside from being unsightly what does an uneven bevel width have to do with whether the blade shaves or not? Just saying why bother if the bevel is really set.

Bob

sometimes the bevel is uneven because of geometry and no reasonable amount of honing will correct for uneven hone wear or and uneven grind. Can't help but agree with Bob for the most part. If the shave is great let it go, wooosaaa.

Originally Posted by DoughBoy68

Try these 3 part videos by gssixgun on honing a smiling wedge:
gssixgun honing a smiling wedge part 1 wmv
gssixgun honing a smiling wedge part 2 wmv
gssixgun honing a smiling wedge part 3 wmv

Hope this helps!

Just watched these vids for the umpteenth time. The difference is this time it was quiet in the house and I had the volume up on my iPad and paying attention to the audible feedback is invaluable!
Especially on the 1k and 4K you can actually hear as the bevel comes in. At the start there is a very noticeable swoosh sound on each lap that decreases as the bevel smooths to the grit of the stone. If you haven't paid attention as I obviously hadn't, watch them again and crank that volume. Taught me a valuable lesson on paying more attention to what you are doing on the hones!
Honed a couple of Sheffield smiling wedges after this lesson and it is quite noticeable as the bevel comes in. I have a heavy, old James Barlow that I got to the point of giving an acceptable shave but knew it could be better and these 3 vids helped me finally dial it in to get a really super smooth shave instead of an acceptable shave!!

Thanks gssixgun/Glen.

It takes some serious practice to get a smiling edge shave ready sharp. I haven't been able to do it yet, but i'm fairly new to honing. I'm getting close though! For me it's hard to be 100% consistent on rolling the edge like you have to.

I saw Charlie Lewis' video quite a while ago and thought it was very helpful so I do highly recommend watching it too.

One thing that may help is to draw a pencil line parallel to the edge of the hone closest to your honing hand and imagine that is the entirety of your hone. Make sure that your honing stroke keeps the edge making contact on your "narrow hone" and you will automatically be doing the right stroke.