Thread: Why tape the spine?

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Well, let's not be too hasty. You can sleep tonight but don't take it for granted

Me neither.
What I shared, was one observation on one specific razor, still with the factory edge, if I recall.
For all I know the first edge I honed on it could have been not in the most solid of steels, and honing it a bit further cleared up that situation.
But I felt the observation was worth sharing.
Now, if someone could come up with a razor that's always brittle when honed without tape and never when honed with tape, that would be very interesting indeed.

I do agree with the basic rule that obtuser equals stronger, BUT, it may require a greater force to do the severing, which might counteract the extra ruggedness.
I know out of my practice as a longtime woodworker, that each wood species has its best bevel angle when it comes to planing: too acute and the edge quickly chips, too obtuse and the edge quickly rounds and burnishes. Maybe the same principles apply for shaving, I don't know. For woodwork, I'm talking about noticeable differences within 5 degree increments. We're talking about 1 degree increments, but then again, we are using an edge guided by one of our sensorially most developed body parts (the finger tips) to shave hair of one of our most sensitive body parts (the face).

Bart.