Results 1 to 10 of 15
Thread: Shaving with a smiley?
-
04-28-2014, 04:35 PM #1
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
- Location
- bozeman, mt
- Posts
- 51
Thanked: 1Shaving with a smiley?
It seems that it needs a bit of a different style. It's a large Frederick Reynolds, that I recently honed. It is sharp, created a great shave for me.
There is just something in the technique that I am missing. Is this correct? Do I need to using a slight scything motion to gain maximum use of the full blade?
and did the pick come up this time?
-
04-28-2014, 04:41 PM #2
Very nice blade !!
http://straightrazorplace.com/workshop/18504-welcome-workshop-how-do-i-where-do-i-what-do-i-answers-here.html
-
04-28-2014, 04:48 PM #3
- Join Date
- Apr 2008
- Location
- Essex, UK
- Posts
- 3,816
Thanked: 3164Thats a very nice razor, I agree!
I would say that smiling profiles are easier to shave with - a lot of people say this. In fact. a lot of the early barber manuals show how to make a straight edge into a slightly smiling edge, to ease the process of shaving.
I don't think that you need any elaborate re-jigging of your shave technique, although I would tend to agree that each blade needs some little refinement in how you use it to get the best out of it, a smiler should be easier to use and a doddle to shave with.
Regards,
Neil
-
04-28-2014, 06:22 PM #4
+1 to Neil's comments.
I find a well prepped Smiling edge to be easier shave with as a rule.
For me they are at there best when shaving those swirling patterns that occur on the side of my neck.
Smooth shaving...Support Movember!
Movember https://mobro.co/markcastellana?mc=1
SRP Team USA https://moteam.co/srp-usa?mc=1
-
04-28-2014, 08:37 PM #5
- Join Date
- Apr 2012
- Location
- Diamond Bar, CA
- Posts
- 6,553
Thanked: 3215I have a few smilers and as I understand it, the purpose is to not have to use scything motion but use a straight stroke while achieving the slicing action from the curve of the blade. Much like a curved sword, Ax edge or skewed chisels and plane blades where the curved or angled edge slices/shears the medium, instead of plow cutting or hacking.
It does work for wood and difficult grain, so in theory it should work for a razor. Actually I believe most probably they were popular then, for much the same reason they are popular now… they look Cool.
-
04-28-2014, 08:44 PM #6
I much prefer smiling edges to straight ones. I find truly straight edges to be less forgiving in shaving and in honing. I don't have to worry as much about my technique with a smiling blade as I do with the really straight ones.
-
04-28-2014, 10:42 PM #7
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
- Location
- bozeman, mt
- Posts
- 51
Thanked: 1Euclid, that makes sense. I never really thought about it that way.
Thanks for turning the pic right side up. This was an as is $20 score at the antique store. It was a great shave, I'll do it again tomorrow. I will just keep scraping away.
-
04-29-2014, 12:22 PM #8
very good price for a fantastic blade...
"Consider well the seed that gave your birth: you were not made to lives as brutes,but to following virtue and knoweledge"
Dante's The Divine Comedy:Inferno XXVI.
-
04-29-2014, 12:36 PM #9
I have one like yours and it is a great shaver. Probably #2 or #3 of my rotation.
+1 to Neil and Ace. Each blade has its own geometry and theology. I like a smile on a blade.
DaveIf you don't care where you are, you are not lost.
-
05-22-2014, 03:03 AM #10
I got a smiley today and honed it and shaved with it. Definitely a smoother shave for my face. Accomplished a 3 pass smoothness in two passes. Mine is a George wostenholm 9/8 celebrated IXL