Thread: How to hone a reverse smile, or "frown"

One of my father's old razors is a Bengall round point that I've been cleaning up. When I first put it to the hone, it became apparent that the edge has a slight reverse smile in it. I can hone a good edge to the toe and heel but the middle appears to only touch the hone slightly, hardly enough to have much of an effect. This is confirmed when I look at the edge as it rests on a piece of glass.

What's the best way of dealing with this? I would like to take that frown out and straighten the edge up but I don't know if that is practical, much less how I should go about it. Or, should I use some modified honing technique and just accept the shape of the edge as is?

Thanks in advance.

Ask and thou shalt recieve sayth the SRP dudes


Ok, anyway check out this wiki post first, and then think about it before you try it, because it will do the trick, but it is a lot of work....

Maybe Glen forgot to include the link but I think he was referring to this one here. I read Glen's tutorial on honing frowns before it got in the Wiki and his method worked for me on a Hermes that I really wanted to get right. He isn't exaggerating when he says it takes a lot of work and patience.

I had an old PermEdge 4/8 with a nasty frown, so i taped the spine and got busy on a dmt325.

frown is gone now, and the razor is very easy to hone. sadly, it is also a 3/8 now

Must have hit submit before I hit paste

Thanks Jimmy

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Must have hit submit before I hit paste

Thanks Jimmy

My pleasure, thanks to you for posting the great info to begin with.