Thread: Can I hone razor with a "smile"

Hello all. I recently got a W&B razor from a shop here and the blade has a slight smile to it and I was wondering if I would be able to hone it. How will the "smile" affect the honing process? I am waiting for my Norton 4K/8K to arrive to try doing it myself. The smile seems to be very slight, so I'm hoping it won't be too much of a problem. The top razor is the W&B. Any advice is appreciated.

Depending on wether the smile is intentional or if put there by bad honing on the previous owners part, you may wish to go to a little work and hone the smile out. If the smile is manufactured and intentional its no big deal to hone a smiling blade. Wait a while and there will be others to come along and offer appropriate advice, or you could search the honing threads. God bless and good luck.

From the pic that looks like a very very slight smile yes you can hone it, there is a slightly different stoke involved but like I said looking at the pic I would bet that just a standard X stroke is going to do just fine, Thats the up side....

The down side is, I would recommend starting with the other blade that looks totally straight first, get that under yer belt before attempting a smiling blade....
This of course is all JMHO..... You might want to watch Heavydty's (David) 9 part honing video that he put together from the CA meet up he addresses Smileys and general honing rather well in there....
Good honing

Usually a smile does not pose a real problem. If yuo find with the bevel marking test that toe or heel end do not touch the hone you may want to use a narrower hone, say 1-1.5" wide.

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.

It really depends upon what grit the smile is, personally, I'd probably wind up cutting my lips off trying to hone a razor with my smile.

Smiling blades are preferred! I use the Rolling X motion (as it is now called), gently rolling the blades contact with the hone from heel to tip throughout the honing stroke. take your time, be attentive. You should do fine.

X

Originally Posted by xman

Smiling blades are preferred! I use the Rolling X motion (as it is now called), gently rolling the blades contact with the hone from heel to tip throughout the honing stroke. take your time, be attentive. You should do fine.

X

Yep what he said

For a blade with a "smile" (preferred shape of an edge, IMHO) you can use either the rolling X stroke or a narrow hone.

For a blade to lay flat on a hone, assuming that the thickness of the spine is uniform, then the width of the blade must be uniform from toe to heel. If it is not, which is usually the case when a blade edge has "smile" shape to it, then you have to use either the rolling X stroke or use a narrow hone, 1"-1-1/4".


Just my two cents,

I suppose there is something in the FAQ that describes the rolling X. Maybe a video?