Thread: Spine taping

This has probably come up before so i appologise now.
One of my razors is in need of a touch up hone. Ive never honed this razor before and it appears to have been honed previously without any tape on the spine. My question is, if i want to hone with tape on how far back do i need to go? do i need to go back to the bevel setting stage on a DMT 1200 grit?

no. you can do just a touch up. by raising the angle, you are introducing fresh metal to the hone. see picture below (i know it sucks, i just drew it, sorry) you will make a double bevel, which a lot of us frequently do. i think it gives a better shave.

For touch ups all you need is a good barbers hone, no tape needed, easy as pie to use.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

For touch ups all you need is a good barbers hone, no tape needed, easy as pie to use.

If the razor was initially honed with tape, even with a barber's hone, he'd need to add that layer of tape back, otherwise the honing isn't doing anything for the edge.

When in doubt, I think jockeys suggestion is the safer bet. Unless multiple layers of tape were added initially, adding a single layer and touching it up would be fine regardless of how it was initially honed (tape or not).

And no, you shouldn't need to step back to the DMT 1200 unless it is damaged. If the razor has gotten really dull, you might want to do a few swipes at the 4k level before moving on up through the grits, but if it's only just starting to lose it's edge, a barber's hone, coticule, etc, basically any finishing stone, would work just fine.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

For touch ups all you need is a good barbers hone, no tape needed, easy as pie to use.

I do the same as nun2sharp, and just touch up with a barbers hone, maybe 5 or 6 passes.

Cheers

Gordon