Thread: Honing My New Smiling Frederick Reynolds?

Hi All-I got my new/old Reynolds I won from the Bay this week: http://straightrazorpalace.com/aucti...-reynolds.html

Anyway, the blade polished up pretty nicely using just CroX and a couple of old socks. It is a bit loose in the scales (which are pretty lackluster IMO), so I may get Max to work his magic on it. Until then, I couldn't wait to hone it up and try a shave. It is my first Sheffield, first really smiling blade, so I'm a definite honing newbie. Here's what happened on my Nortons:

-Doing some low-pressure circles on the 1k using the marker test, I was able to establish a bevel from heel to toe, with some extra attention on heel and toe. I had to very slightly rock the blade on the ends with fingertips to make contact. The steel seemed really soft, and I got quick results, with lots of feedback.

-I established (and sort of lost) the bevel about 4 times. Every time I would try to do very light rolling X-strokes, I seemed to go backward. Any thoughts? At any rate, after a couple of tries I got a good bevel (grabbing on the TPT, mowing leg hair) all the way across, by sort of pyramiding very light circles from 1-4k. Again, even the lightest x-strokes seemed to take me backward.

-After some very light, modest pyramiding circles between 4-8k, I was afraid of going too far again, so I gave it 10 laps on CrOx linen, then my usual 30/50 linen leather. It passed HHT, and though I didn't have much beard to shave, it very smoothly plowed off some stubble in my neck hollows (where the smile seemed to really shine!).

So am I going to get struck by lightning for honing my 1st smiling Sheffield all the way using a few light circles? Anything I can do to get x-strokes to work? Just curious.

edit: I forgot to add that I used 2 layers of tape on the spine because of previous hone wear, and because I didn't want a massive bevel on the heel and toe. Thanks-aaron

You are going to need to do rocking strokes on that thing in order to hone it. It sounds like that is how you set the bevel. Peen the top pin tight or you will be all over the place, IMO! You MUST have a tight pivot to hone. Mine honed up real easy. Yours should too?

I found Glen's (gssixgun) you tube video of honing a smiling wedge very informative when dealing with smiling blades.
I hope this helps

Thanks, Havachat and Sharptonn!

I dealt with the exact same situation yesterday on a new (to me) smiling FR. +1 to the responses to far. Glenn's video helped a lot and Rocking strokes are what got me there.

Thanks, DFriedl, too-I was actually watching Glenn's video on honing with the Norton 4/8 yesterday, really just trying to replicate his confident strokes-mine seem shaky and uneven in comparison. Experience and muscle memory I guess. I didn't watch the wedge video as I didn't know it would apply to my rattler-grind Reynolds, but I'll check it out. I plan to shave with it today, as I feel I've got a shave ready edge. I just didn't get it with the rolling/swooping x-strokes, which doesn't seem right.

What works for me is heel forward x strokes, the geometry of a blade like that wont have any part of a perpendicular to the hone x stroke.
"Rocking" to compensate for this is cause for major inconsistancy IME... not saying it wont work, just not for me.
Otherwise, if it shaves fine and your bevel is looking good, then pat yourself on the back!
Nice blade btw! I was asleep at the wheel during that one

Wow-The proof was in the shave! After a couple of days to let my whiskers grow, and a beautiful sunny afternoon catching up on some yardwork, I showered off the grime, and whipped up fluffy gobs of Tabac (that way, if I got a lousy shave, I couldn't blame it on this great performer). I expected issues after my honing conundrum discussed above.

But honestly, it was the most effortless, irritation-free shave I've ever had! Though this was a number of 1sts for me-1st Sheffield, 1st heavy/large smiling blade, 1st barber's notch, it was like that smile was made to wipe away the whiskers from my neck hollows, and it was almost too easy to let the weight and mass of the blade do all the work. Though it didn't give the usual "buttering toast" sound of my hollow blades, it didn't need to. The whiskers just fell away, total BBS!

If it shaves this great after those half-assed circles described above (all the way through finishing on the Norton 8k), followed by just a few strokes CrOx linen, then my usual 30/50 linen/latigo, I can't imagine what a great shave it will give once I learn how to hone it, and get a real finisher! Even after the shave, a few token strokes on both strops brought it back to wicked, HHT sharp-I am stunned at how responsive this thing is to my ham-handed work on it.

Anyway, enough gushing. Consider me the newest member of the cult of Sheffields, and suffice to say I now have a new favorite razor.

One final note: You guys in the path enjoy the "Ring of Fire" this evening. BigSpendur, you're in Albuquerque, right? I hear that's about as far East as it will be visible. Have a great week, gents!

Glad to see it worked out well for you, mate.
It can only get better from here

Cool, love the positive ending. I've got a De Pews that gave me issues, basically it taught (is teaching) me a bunch of things, such as honing, patience, perseverance...