Thread: Shaving 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?

Very nice blade !!

Thats 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

+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...

I 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.

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.

Euclid, 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.

very good price for a fantastic blade...

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.

Dave

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