Thread: Blade "Smile" - As Manufactured?

Gentleman,

Learning from and exploring the site every day so go easy on me if this has been covered.

I see many blades with slight to moderate "smiles", many on fine looking restorations. Were blades manufactured with the smiles or is it simply the result of repetitive honing (improper or not) over time?

I will soon be receiving a good-looking Wade & Butcher with quite a smile and can personally see the possible advantage of the smile from a shaving point of view. I've seen many W&Bs in particular with this smile, some as gorgeous restorations. If they were not manufactured this way, they certainly seem to be well-accepted by many.

All thoughts are welcome!

Some were manufactured with a smile, some got that way later. Usually the ones that were made with a smiling edge also have a curved spine (sometimes called a "swayback"). The Classic Shaving Filarmonica is one notable exception to this - it has a curved edge but a straight spine. It is much preferable to have the same curve in both the spine and edge, since this allows you to hone the razor evenly. If only the edge is curved then there's no way to hone the edge evenly without wearing the spine unevenly (since the razor will be tipped up on one end of the spine or the other for every part of the edge but the very middle).

Originally Posted by mparker762

Some were manufactured with a smile, some got that way later. Usually the ones that were made with a smiling edge also have a curved spine (sometimes called a "swayback"). The Classic Shaving Filarmonica is one notable exception to this - it has a curved edge but a straight spine. It is much preferable to have the same curve in both the spine and edge, since this allows you to hone the razor evenly. If only the edge is curved then there's no way to hone the edge evenly without wearing the spine unevenly (since the razor will be tipped up on one end of the spine or the other for every part of the edge but the very middle).

Thank you, Sir! Now that you bring up this general rule, I now realize that's true of most "smiley" razors I've seen. Were the W&B "barber" razors generally swaybacks? I believe the one I purchased is.