Do you suggest taping the spine before honing or not?
Why, or why not?
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Do you suggest taping the spine before honing or not?
Why, or why not?
There's a HUGE amount of posts here about that subject, it's one of the Straight Razor Eternal Questions. My story is that I normally tape, and the one day I didn't (on my Bengall) I overdid the honing a little and wore the spine a little, which pissed me off a LOT. My take on the thing is why wear the spine if you don't have to, unless you want to be REALLY 'basic' and do things exactly as 'they used to', in which case you'd be using an old barbers' hone, heating your shaving water on the wood stove and wearing button on collars and hob nailed boots (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Carl
Wooooooo Hoooooooo Another Tape Thread
:deadhorse:
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It makes me want to open up a thread,,"Why do Wade & Butchers cost so much?"
We need a hanging tape thread ....... :rofl2:
I started out taping everything for the first year. Then I switched to only taping damascus or decorated spines. Continued with that for a few years. Now I'm back to taping everything again. One layer of 3M electrical tape is what I do unless it is a special circumstance, then I might use more than one layer, but rarely.
I'd advise anyone starting out to tape until you have your chops down, then try it naked (the blade) and see what you prefer. :gl:
I think this is one of those do a search and about a million previous threads will come up threads, not that it's not something I am guilty of too. :)
I will have to admitt that I like the different color tapes that Home Depot sells,,,I would swear that my strokes are faster, much smoother with the blue tape. :shrug:
If you tape the spine of the razor, wouldn't you have to tape the edge, too? I don't think you want to hone away steel from the edge and make the blade narrower, without also honing steel away from the spine to make it thinner to match. Am I being a total retard here or something? Cause I was told that the bevel angle is sorta important, and the bevel angle is determined by the ratio between width and thickness, and normal honing decreases both, more or less proportionally, and so reducing the width without reducing the thickness changes the bevel angle over time. Am I overlooking something? Apart from the slowness of the wear of course. I realize that it would be a slow process but what is slow to a tool that can be used daily for over a hundred years? Just sayin. Hey I'm a newbie. And I was taught to not use tape except in certain limited situations like honing a wedge which I haven't done yet.
I wondered the same thing as Tulane man.
(Go Tigers).
Jody
As far as I know using tape on the spine will make extremely small changes to the angle of the bevel even over a lifetime of use. I am going to guess that the the ideal bevel angle is 17 degrees with a tolerance of plus or minus at least 1 degree. You could do the math but I am again guessing it won't make much of a difference if the spine width to blade size ratio was correct in the first place.
The theory that the spine to blade ratio should wear in together is technically correct. OTH on wedges and near wedges you may have to use multi layers of tape to compensate for the hone wear on the spine in order to get anywhere near the desired ideal bevel angle for a straight.
Bob
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That distant sound you just heard coming from the northwest was Glen's head exploding.
rs,
Tack
That, ”Don’t tape to wear the spine and edge evenly” only works, maybe if you bevel set your razor every month.
The reality is once you bevel set your razor, you may never set the bevel again as long as you own it, unless you damage/chip it. In really it does not matter. Why not tape it then?
And RED tape is the best.
Look on e-bay, at that mis-honed crap, or look at the spines that we have to correct from newb heavy handed honers, and realize that Honing with tape has not ruined a razor, yet :)
Once you take steel off it is pretty hard to put it back on there :hmmm: tape on the other hand is cheap and easy to replace...
A good honer is doesn't matter tape, no tape...
I have a complex now. Thanks that's all. Haha.
But yeah. Usually fixing a bunch of crap. What damages do you see this heavy hand honing causing from new folks? I ask because one mistake I see folks make is not using enough pressure. My mind is on a bevel setting stage.
Lately (last 6-8 months) and I do not know why, I have seen more frowns on newer razors then ever in the past... all brands
I am thinking some where is a vid or thread that is showing something very wrong that new guys are following and messing up the razor.. I haven't been visiting the other forums all that much but I am going to start asking my customers and try and find out where they are getting the bad info from..
Something is off out there...
I could not agree more. I have a hunch where it stems. Just all over bad advice in general.
Two months ago I had a lot sent to me that I had to redo from what others messed up. I'm not expert but I do know if it ain't shaving it ain't shipping.
First and Foremost, When Glen (GSSIXGUN) speaks I listen and I listen very closely!!
When I watched his video where he showed how he'd seen some 'honing' videos where people were placing a finger on the middle of the blade and he said (semi quote) "This is the best way to get a frown" I listened!!
I do on occasion use a finger at the back of the spine as a guide AND it's just a guide with no downward pressure when I'm 'first' starting to set the bevel but after that I'm the one armed man!!
Sitting beside Glen and watch him hone and be able to stop and ask questions and have him patiently answer my questions improved my honing 10X's over!!:bow:
Listen to words of wisdom from one who has the experience to give good solid counsel! :tu
like suckin titty through nightgown.:roflmao
opinions are opinions,no offense intended....
Ok Listen up. If you are not concerned about spine wear, Do not tape and proceed full speed ahead.
However, if spine wear bothers you for whatever reason. Please use 1 layer of tape and after the 8k, please add 1 more layer and proceed with the Tim Zowada and enjoy your shave.
Read all the many (72,000,000,000,000,000,000) threads about taping spines and proceed without adding any more threads. And thanks a whole big bunch for doing that.
This is really one subject that should be limited. Whew!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry if we are out of patience on this subject. It simply doesn't matter if you tape or not unless you are worried about spine wear period.
Oh dear. I'm sorry, that one made me laugh out loud. Seems to me if you did that it'd be an exercise in futility, no spine wear but no edge wear either ;)
One would wonder why you're bothering in that case to move the razor across the hone at all? Maybe one could just tape the hone?
Sorry, I just couldn't resist...
I think the reason why so many newer members on here ask about taping is because theres a few razor sites that say that taping will effect the bevel angle to an unusable degree. They, however, fail to mention that this will take forever to do so thus concerning the new eager straight razor user about the maintenance and longevity of his new prized possession. I am saying this because I did it too when I first started because I read it on some site. Theres a lot of information on straight razors and I sometimes think there is more misinformation or incomplete information if you will and it gets jumbled up with the goods.
To the OP. Don't get frustrated when the "Elders" start poking fun at a question. All it means is that there are plenty of threads available to read with which the subject has been thoroughly explained and there lack of enthusiasm for answering it for you is because they have already gone very in-depth too many times for too many people because they person asking the question failed to use the search bar. It does take a while to remember that it is there but nonetheless it stands by faithful, waiting, hoping to one day be able to answer your many questions.
Oh I must say I myself didn't mean any harm; I was just having a bit of a joke. I don't want to suggest this site is any better than any other on straight razor shaving, but I myself have never felt an inclination to delve in to finding information elsewhere, I feel, for me, it's all here. We've all been newbies before, and I love newbies and their questions, I love passing on knowledge and experience, it's one big reason why I stay here. Everyone should keep asking questions. Even though we have the library (Wiki) and a lot of forums, if every newbie just used those tools we'd have no use for mentors, and that would be, well, BORING.
I don't think anyone gets annoyed with answering questions. It's like the other day when my son asked what RPMs meant (in relation to a car). He said "Is it revolutions of the wheels?" I didn't say "You're a bloody dickhead, stop asking stupid questions and go and mow the lawn", I explained the logic, and felt rather chuffed that I could do so, as I felt it fulfilling.
We've had a post before about that, about how guys used to be able to ask their fathers about shaving with a straight, but who'd even BOTHER to ask how to use a plastic Bic thingy.
Now we have places like this guys can come to, it makes those of us who have some experience feel rather fatherly, which is a GOOD thing.
Carl
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So how about this?