Thread: Smiling Frederick Reynolds

I have a FR wedge with a nice big smile.
When I hone it I can get some parts of the blade shave ready, but not all. I have tried X pattern but it just doesn't seem to work. The main problem is that to get the heel to contact with the hone I need to lift the toe and vice versa. Is this a permissable honing technique? If I use the x pattern combined with changing the angle of the blade from heel down to heel up, could it work?
I honed my other wedge, a wade and butcher with no problems, but that one has much less wear and smile.

45 degrees heel leading,
X pattern,
If you have not succes try and a light change of weight from heel to tip through the cource.

I have one just like that and it may also be the same make now that I think of it. Mine is more of a french point than any other style I can think of and there must be about 1mm of space between the hone and the tip when you lay the razor flat across the hone. There is a little less space at the heel. The only way I could get it to sharpen along the whole blade was to rock it ever so slightly as I honed using a diagonal X pattern.

+ 1

It will come

Good luck
Ivo

You hone these by rocking them from heel to tip as you traverse the hone. X pattern is optional IMO, because the problem the X pattern solves (overhoning the heel) isn't a problem on smiling razors.

Rocking the razor definitely works, although I'm not very good at it. I should practice this more.

I use a narrow hone for smiling blades, and this helps a lot. Since only a small part of the razor is on the hone at any given time, you just have to make sure that the entire edge hits the hone during the stroke.

I've had some luck with a scything stroke, too, although others might recommend against it. I start with the razor angled back sharply, maybe 45 degrees like someone else suggested. Then I do an X stroke, tipping the toe forward as the stroke progresses. I only make contact near the edge of the hone--maybe using 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of the width of the hone. When the stroke completes, the razor has gone from angled back 45 degrees to angled slightly forward.

Smiling blades are tricky. I really feel the key is less which stroke you use than making sure the entire edge hits the hone on both sides. I don't worry as much about pressure as I do about evenness.

A good trick for these blades is the magic marker test. Run a black Sharpie along the bevel, and try to make the marker wear off evenly.

Just a few suggestions.

Josh

X-man gives a great description of the 'Rock-n-roll' method in one of his first blog entries. Search 'In the deep end'. You should find it.

Cheers,
Ed

Ok, so I eventually had some success with this one. The blade was badly damaged when I recieved it so before honing I had done a rough sand over to remove all the rust.
Once I had tried honing it and failed miserably, I decided today to finish the blade properly, sanding it up to 1500 and then polishing.
Then I went back to honing, and failed again. I got it to the point that it nearly was good enough, but the norton just wouldn't get it any sharper.
So giving up on that I took it to the 50 micron diamond paste for about 10 minutes, and to my suprise it worked and shaved really well. I never thought that this would work at all, but it seems to have done the trick.
Thanks for all the advice!