Thread: A Good Example Of A Frown

Another thread on a frowning blade and running into an ebay item with photos that show an extreme example stimulated my posting this thread. I captured a couple of photos of ebay item # 260523295392 because they are classic in showing a frown for anyone who is not familiar with that condition. The seller demonstrates the average person's ignorance of straight razors by unabashedly referring to the razor as 'nice'.

I have breadknifed a frowning blade on a couple of occasions and found that restoring a bevel was a prodigious amount of work. I have flat honed with one layer of tape on the spine and found I like that method better. IIRC Glen recommended three layers when dealing with a frown to speed the process. IME that is a good idea. One way or the other it is labor intensive IME. Where having a coarse DMT is appreciated.

It really depends on the individual razor and how serious the frown. IIRC Lynn posted in a thread on dealing with a frown that honing on a coarse hone with the spine slightly lifted was a good way to get to a proper edge profile. Then follow up with bevel correction and setting in the normal manner. I haven't had a chance to try that but it makes a lot of sense and I will if I ever run into a razor with that problem in the future.

In this example note the spine wear corresponding to the frown at the edge. I once bought a razor with a frown because it still had enough blade left to make a good shaver and it was by a maker that filled a hole in my collection. Ordinarily I would pass on anything with a serious frown.

Yikes and gadzooks!

Frowns are aptly named for more than one reason.

I saw that too. Such a shame that a Lifetime Duck is destroyed.

Originally Posted by khaos

I saw that too. Such a shame that a Lifetime Duck is destroyed.

Yet with the same hone in hand that made the frown I suspect
it would refresh on that hone, follow that with a narrow strop it
should give a good shave.

This is the case where magic marker on BOTH the blade and
spine will tell the owner a lot. If the frown is also reflected in the spine
taping the spine to shape the edge is only a short term work
around. Also using a marker can tell if variations in hone strokes
will address the blade as it is.

I do not own a Duck but if the steel and shave is a good as some
say I would make a narrow leather and soft wood combo hone/ strop and
live with the shape. Or I would tape the blade and address the
spine on a glass or diamond flat then tape the spine and address
the blade on the same flats taking it home from there.

The lack of hone wear on the back near the heal is interesting.

Yeah, its a real PITA. I also had problems b/c after breadknifing (grinding down more then breadknifing, really) the outer areas are thicker then the center so you have to be careful not to let the frown reestablish itself, since it takes more grinding to get the bevel on the thicker areas.

The way to get rid of a frown like that is get a low girt hone wider than the blade or lay it diagonally so the whole spine touches and just grind forever. Eventually it will get flat and straight. lots of hone wear though...

Sometimes I'll look at the eBay photos and just wonder how long those razors were used and how effective they were the last time somebody shaved with them. I saw one recently, which I should have screencapped, that had probably a good 1/3" frown -- measured from where the edge should have been to where it currently was at the center.

I sat there thinking, "Someone must have kept honing this thing and if they were honing it that way, they also must have been using it." The wear on the spine matched to where there was moderate wear on the ends with major wear in the center. Was this just some poor guy who didn't want to bother getting a new razor, or maybe even a barber who used it way too often?

I am sure glad you posted this. As a newbie, often times it's difficult to detect problem areas on used razors, everything "seems" OK. It's great to see bad examples. It gives us newbies a point of reference.

It's sort of: "See this? You don't want this!"

Thanks for the post Jimmy!

My first str8 razor was from eBay and had a slight frown. It took a while to get the frown honed out, I was beginning to wonder if it was going to be worth the effort. The razor ended up being such a good shaver I bought 2 more, all three shave great and are in my top five list. Below are before and after pics, the top two being the eBay pics.