Thread: round nose - how to sharpen the toe?

Hi All,

I have a new Dovo Prima Silver Steel, good razor however the toe is slightly smiling. As such the toe of the razor does not come into contact with the hone or strop for that matter. So, do i learn to live with it as the toe becomes progressively less sharp is should i rock upwards when honing (difficult to keep a constant angle..?!?!).

Looking forward to advice...

Hi Garthy,

Smiling blades are very much worth learning. We're certainly able to generate controversy here, and that's not the intent, but I find the blade w/ a slight smile to consistently shave better than a straight edge. With a few exception of the more radical smiles, most smiles can be completed by either learning/mastering the sweeping, arc-like stroke, or the combined use of a LITTLE rotational and longitudinal pressure.

The more radical smiles can involve actually lifting the opposite end of the spine to make contact. How this is done deserves some care. When speaking w/ Glen at the Spokane meet, I was saying that lifting the spine was neccessary. He argued to slightly lift the shank higher at the end of the stroke. Now that also would have the spine lifted higher than the plane of the stone, but his point is very well taken. Its almost impossible to reproduce a perfectly matching arc that perfectly tracks with the curvature of the edge on each stroke. So the methods that give the least lift are more easily repeated. (If I'm not representing Glen's view accurately here - its entirely my fault - not his).

What I try to do when first honing such a blade is to set the bevel so the heel and toe can contact the stone with just a little pressure (rotational and longitudinal) without lifting the spine. This may mean removing a little more metal in those areas so the edge can contact with the spine flat on the stone. It usually requires I use 2 hands while setting the bevel, keeping the lightest of touch on the edge side of the spine (not any closer to the edge) at the toe.

I hope some of the 'meisters weigh in here and do a better job of illustrating their better techniques.

It sounds to me like you are asking two questions - one about the smile and one about the round nose. I find that round points usually have a slight grey area regarding where the sharpness ends, because there is no abrupt end to the cutting edge. Personally, I find that if I do try to get sharpness out as far as possible, I end up honing up the round a bit, and that can cause some funky hone wear. As a result, I usually just live with the fact that I'm going to have a decline in sharpness out at the very toe. Since you have the smile in addition, you'll really have to balance the desire to have a full, sharp cutting edge against the (I'm assuming lack of desire) to create uneven honewear at the toe and figure out what makes you the happiest.

Originally Posted by garthy

Hi All,

I have a new Dovo Prima Silver Steel, good razor however the toe is slightly smiling....

I have a funny feeling that you are talking more or a worn out toe than a smiling blade, is it possible to post a pic????
The Technique that Rob/Pinklather is talking about will work either way, but depending on the blade it might be more advantageous to start correcting the the edge profile instead...

Ah, ok slight correction i need to make.

It is a rounded toe, no smile to the actual blade.

I was having as look at sone TI razors and noticed they are straight to the rounded end as opposed to my Dovo which is has a upwards curving bevel.

See attached pic referring to the red line as the cutting edge.

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Sorry, I am a bit late to this thread but I thought I would post one of my Robert Williams blades. Robert obviously decided to install a very intentional smiling point on this blade. Very tricky to hone this point but it's a good learning experience.

JERRY
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