Thread: How do you tell if you have a frown

I was wondering what the easiest way to tell if you have a frown was

In front of a bright light, gently place the edge of the razor onto the top of a confirmed flat hone with the razor perpendicular to that surface. Look for any light coming through the gap between the edge and the hone. Any frown(s) will be obvious.

So there shouldn't be any light coming through at all

Originally Posted by Kevinwine85

So there shouldn't be any light coming through at all

I hope this visual aid is of some help:

The only thing I can add is to use a very BRIGHT! light. Anything less can give false positives. Been there, done that.

Look in the mirror. Sorry, Couldn't help myself.
The pic that Roy put up should help. Its not too hard to find out. Good luck and dont ruin a sharp edge.

Originally Posted by Kevinwine85

I was wondering what the easiest way to tell if you have a frown was

IF your razor isn't shave ready, it's fairly easy. Place the edge down on a flat surface that has light coming from behind. If there is light coming from the middle and not the ends it's frowning. If there's no light in the middle but light at the ends, it's probably smiling and if there's no light all along the edge, then the edge is straight.

I would use a piece of glass, mirror or such as the flat area as it doesn't get much flatter than that. If there are reflections in the way a piece of dark paper could be used.

Over Simplistic? Yup! But it will work.

OH! If the Razors shave ready then you need to be very careful so you don't mess up the edge.

Part of the cause of the frown is more than likely the quarter hones. I would take the offer of getting it fixed. From there you may be able to maintain it with the 8k.

Sent from a moto x far far away

I'd go with Cudarunners offer but...
If you want to do it yourself remember that the edge should closely resemble the shape of the spine. If the spine is straight, edge should be straight or slight smile. If spine is smiling then make edge the same smile. And if you want to do it yourself follow the vid of Glen doing it. His vids have helped me to learn lots!

I'll just repeat one tidbit from the advice offered here - those quarter-size Nortons are very likely to do more harm than good in novice hands. If you want to have the geometry of the razor corrected, send it to someone experienced. You have received a very generous offer from a respected honer and I would strongly recommend taking him up on it.