James,

The reason is because the number of strokes you hone depends on the AREA of the bevel you are working on.

The number of strokes goes up as a square of the dimensions, so if you double the width of the bevel, you can easily multiply by 4 the number of strokes needed.

By taping, you tip the razor up and are contacting a much smaller area of the bevel, which means the honing goes orders of magnitude faster.

The Clauss I just did has about a 3/64" wide bevel after I ground out the chips. But after taping, the the secondary bevel is less than 1/4 the width of the full bevel. I probably over-did the polishing with the 8K at 40 strokes. I believe it could have been accomplished with 1/2 that. Polishing out the scratch marks without taping would have hundreds and hundreds of strokes, I know, I've done it before.

That's why I said it is great for restorations where the bevel has gotten wider due to having to grind out big chips. It really speeds things up.

I lathered up the other side and shaved again with this razor. This time, no bleeders, no irritation--I just backed off on the pressure. You really need a very light touch with such a sharp razor.