Thread: taped spine or not

So, as he says, try it…

Get a piece of cardboard, inside of cereal box ink the bevel, by running the side of a sharpie along the edge, this will ink the edge and a bit of both sides of the bevel.

Not strop on the edge of a table or counter, just plain cardboard. Is the ink removed at the edge?

You can try the same thing with your strop but you will get some ink on your strop.

Lots of folks write stuff on these forums, but it is easy enough to try these thing yourself and see the results for yourself, like the video of Glen honing off the effects of a taped bevel. My experience is that it takes even fewer laps than Glen used. And I was using a 12k stone.

It's not a really serious matter.
What I'm saying is, if you use tape, you can be 100% sure that the edge will come in contact with the leather, if you know the basics on stropping.
If you won't use tape, then you can't be 100%. How long does it take to tape the spine, or how expensive is that piece of tape?
The cardboard is not a good example, it has tiny fibers "standing" above the surface, so, even if it won't come in contact with the cardboard, these tiny fibers will clean the sharpie.
Of course, the leather used on the paddle strop is an important factor; if you have a piece of 9mm suede leather glued on the paddle for stropping (in which case I say kudos) even 8 layers of tape won't matter, rather, it won't be stropping because the razor will be sinking into the leather. But if you have a fine, polished strop, and the leather or whatever you have on the surface isn't extraordinarily thick, chances are, the edge won't make a contact.
Pressure is also a factor, if you use too much of it, forget about the cardboard, use the table or counter directly to erase the sharpie marks.
I've had a nice conversation with Kees, about a year ago I think, where he was telling me that he didn't like paddle strops because his razors with tape did not come in contact with the leather (or that he didn't like taping because some strops like paddle strops did not come in contact with the leather, the other case is the most likely, he is around and will confirm it if he would like to join)

So, I tape before stropping on paddle strops so, here is someone saying it even if I'm the first to do so, and, the difference in our opinions is, if you tape you can be 100% sure that the leather will come in contact with the edge. If not, there is no guarantee, just speculation.

Not a big fan of tape. When was this practice started?? I sure don't know but I asked a retired barber if they ever taped the spine of a razor to hone it & he just shook his head & looked at me funny. I will go with the man who used a razor to make a good part of his living. He touched up with a 3 line Swaty & had a Shell horsehide strop. Used a Coti to hone with & that was it. He had about 6 to 8 razors in his rotation. To bad he is gone now. Started as a Barber in the army.

Slawman, it's interesting you mentioned your barber. I asked my old time barber and he laughed when I asked about tape. He said a razor is a tool you use to shave. If you have vintage razors you can be sure they were honed without tape. I have some very expensive Livi razors that are amazing and he asked me if I used tape and I said no. If Mastro Livi doesn't use it on his razors neither am I. He asked if I didn't buy the vintage razors because whoever had them before didn't use tape and I said no. He then said if you know what your doing when you hone a razor you'll be fine. If you use to much pressure, the wrong technique or to many laps you will screw up the razor with or without tape. He watched Mastro Livi hone his razors and said he hones like a professional barber. No fancy stones and not a lot of laps.

Originally Posted by Slawman

Not a big fan of tape. When was this practice started?? I sure don't know but I asked a retired barber if they ever taped the spine of a razor to hone it & he just shook his head & looked at me funny. I will go with the man who used a razor to make a good part of his living. He touched up with a 3 line Swaty & had a Shell horsehide strop. Used a Coti to hone with & that was it. He had about 6 to 8 razors in his rotation. To bad he is gone now. Started as a Barber in the army.

I see your point. But again, in the past barbers didn't (usually) have a bevel setter and a stone in between that bevel setter and the finisher. Slurry was used indeed, but it would take a long time with a coticule and possibly days of honing with a Thuringian to fix a nick from the razor that touched the sink or the bottle of glass that was used for "sterilization" or the metallic parts of a strop, or you dropped it, any of them by accident of course (for someone working as a barber for decades, it should have happened a lot of times and for many razors).
Like the 1k, we have the tape. Shaving started some thousands of years ago, with completely different tools, and every now and then something about the tool or honing/stropping was changing. And it still does since razors still exist, it's a tiny addition in that evolution. You can use it, but it's not in the list of things "you absolutely need to hone/restore any razor".

Originally Posted by Slawman

Not a big fan of tape. When was this practice started?? I sure don't know but I asked a retired barber if they ever taped the spine of a razor to hone it & he just shook his head & looked at me funny. I will go with the man who used a razor to make a good part of his living. He touched up with a 3 line Swaty & had a Shell horsehide strop. Used a Coti to hone with & that was it. He had about 6 to 8 razors in his rotation. To bad he is gone now. Started as a Barber in the army.

It wouldn't make sense for a barber to use tape. Their razors see a lot of use and need to be touched up often(sometimes in between customers). Many of the guys on this forum have several razors that don't need touch ups very often. Some of my razors have gone three or four years without a touch up.

Originally Posted by Slawman

Not a big fan of tape. When was this practice started?? I sure don't know but I asked a retired barber if they ever taped the spine of a razor to hone it & he just shook his head & looked at me funny. I will go with the man who used a razor to make a good part of his living. He touched up with a 3 line Swaty & had a Shell horsehide strop. Used a Coti to hone with & that was it. He had about 6 to 8 razors in his rotation. To bad he is gone now. Started as a Barber in the army.

Tape is simply a new 'Tool' one that either wasn't in existence or hadn't have been thought of to be of any use back not so many years ago. While your barber pulled out a Coti, he had a Swaty (which wasn't available not so many years ago when he got one) so he took advantage of a new 'Tool' just as many have found that Tape is a tool.

As most have found 99.9% of Everything to do with Purchasing/Using and Maintaining a straight razor is PERSONAL PREFERENCE.

Personally I do use tape when honing unless requested not to. I have played with Glen's method of setting the bevel with tape and then progressing onward without tape and it works. I guess it's kind of a Hybrid (Old School) (New School) thing.

Well guys, have some fun today and enjoy those straight razor shaves!

I use tape on razors that are tough to get a good bevel on, just recently I had to use 2 layers on a Bengall, then took it down to one, I got a nice bevel and it is shave ready, it was tough to find some good leg hair to test but it past the test,(At least for me).

My problem with tape is that it changes the geometry of the blade.

Originally Posted by Slawman

My problem with tape is that it changes the geometry of the blade.

Way less than, bad honing does

That whole geometry change is pretty much a strawman argument, it is true, but simply irrelevant in our life times


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