Quote Originally Posted by 1holegrouper View Post
I kind of go back and forth on this. Back in the day no one used tape. I like JimmyHAD's idea of using it during the 1K process. I think I will try that next go around. However, I have yet to really affect a spine adversely or cosmetically by not using tape. Flip a coin?
Just to speak from my own journey down the honing road, when I first started I was worried about messing up the spine, cosmetically if not the geometry. So I started using tape. I soon found that if I didn't tape all of them I wouldn't remember which was taped and which not taped, so I began taping all of them. I know some big time honers who use tape all the time and I continued with that for a year.

The fact that Lynn doesn't usually use tape bothered me. I figured that if Lynn doesn't ordinarily use it I might be missing something. So after about a year, and a couple of hundred razors, I dipped my foot in the water of tapeless honing. I took a micrometer and measured the spine of a NOS vintage Solingen I'd gotten. I honed it from start to finish sans tape and measured it again. On that particular razor there was no appreciable wear so I began honing without tape.

The exceptions being Damascus or decorated spines. I've recently begun to use tape again. Some of the razors I've been messing with are old Sheffields and whether it is because they require more work, or the steel is softer at the spine (?) I find I notice more wear on them without tape. Visually, I've not measured before and after. Say all this to say, I agree with 1holegrouper that is 'flip a coin' once you have confidence in your honing ability. Until then I would say it is better to be safe than sorry.