Thread: narrow hone for smiley?

I want to get this straight: do you need a hone narrower than 3" in order to properly maintain a smile?

No. But you don't need a wide one either, and the narrow hones (like a barber's hone) are less cumbersome to use. Once you've got a smile, the width of the hone doesn't matter -- I once de-nicked a smiling blade using one of those little triangular pocket hones that was only about 2/3 of an inch wide. This left a quarter inch black stripe of swarf down the middle of the hone but the rest of it was clean.

One of my favorite barber's hones is only 1.25" wide, so I've developed a real fondness for smiling blades.

In my experience a wide hone tends to overhone the mid section of the edge and underhone the toe and heel of a smiley razor. Just look at the pattern of the water on the hone immediately after finishing one pass straight up and down the hone. You'll notice the water in the mid section of the hone to be sweeped away, while the layer of water along the edges of the stone will be slightly deeper. The wider the hone the more likely you overhone the midsection, although with a good technique I guess hone size does not matter.

Originally Posted by Kees

You'll notice the water in the mid section of the hone to be sweeped away, while the layer of water along the edges of the stone will be slightly deeper.

I think this is an illusion because the water has partially filled in the area at the start of the stroke, and if you're using the X stroke the toe of the blade ends up in the middle of the hone so you'd expect the top of the hone to be untouched. Also, most smiling blades that I have seen don't have an even curve, usually the middle of the blade is relatively straighter than the ends, so it's more likely to sweep a wider swath of water.

When I hone my smiling blades on the norton or shapton I see the pattern you're talking about, but when I hone them on something more viscous like lather or oil the track looks relatively even. The blades with flat bellies leave a wider swath in the middle of the hone as expected, and the blades with flatter heels (the smile looks more like an airfoil) leave a wider swath at the near side of the hone.

You can hone a "smiley" edge with either one but the narrow hones makes it easier to achieve a uniform level of wear.
My main point is that each of us has to learn to use the tools that we have and not go out and purchase every hone under the sun thinking that the next hone will be the be all/ end all and solve all of the honing challenges we face.

Yes, I do have a very large collection of hones and some are better than others for certain tasks but in each case I have had to learn how to use each tool.

Just my two cents,

Thanks Randy. I have one big hone and am not looking to acquire anymore unless it's really needed - I'm not a collector. Minimalism is my muse and economy is my reality. I want to understand all this razor paraphernalia – not own it.

But here I guess I'm just looking for general advice on how to maintain a smiley. In the pdf of the Swaty instructions it talks about putting pressure at the beginning and end of the x-pattern, going light in the middle. Makes sense; hard to do effectively though on a 3" hone.

And then I've heard talk about 'rocking,' which I just plain don't understand. If you lift or rotate a razor on an axis perpendicular to your hone while honing, such that the razor edge and spine aren't flat on the face of it, then by definition the razor will at every moment during that movement only be touching the bevelled edge of one side of your hone or another. No? I must be missing something, unless that's the point of rocking – to sharpen your razor along the bevelled edges of your hone.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

My main point is that each of us has to learn to use the tools that we have and not go out and purchase every hone under the sun thinking that the next hone will be the be all/ end all and solve all of the honing challenges we face.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. The non plus ultra hone does not exist. It's more often the user than the equipment that is the problem, presuming of course you have good equipment.