Thread: Can I hone razor with a "smile"

Originally Posted by English

I always get confused with these questions.

It should make no difference whatsoever if there is a smile or not.

If the blade lies flat on the hone, and the edge and the bevel are in contact with the hone, what can go wrong.

The problem is that with old razors, often the spine is not even. Often, the end of the spine is thinner than the middle. The blade will not touch evenly when laid on the hone. In such cases the blade will actually rock on the hone along the spine. To sharpen such a blade, it is necessary to rock the blade as you push or pull it over the hone and in such a manner as to ensure the edge is being sharpened. All you need to do is look at what is happening. The rest is common sense.

The easy way to see what's happening is to put some ink marker on the spine honing edge and see if it all removes on honing. If it doesn't, you may need to hone out the problem or roll the blade so that the bit that is missing the hone, catches the hone. When the ink goes, you are honing OK.

A smiling blade won't lay flat on a hone on both sides of the razor unless the spine is uneven as you noted. the thicker the spine, the farther away the toe and heel will be away from the hone while honing

Look at the 9 part video series on honing by Heavyduty.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/video...eo-series.html