Thread: Tape or no tape?

I only tape my Zowada razors, the thickness of the spine is set such that the tape is accounted for on the angle and it preserves the Damascus pattern.

Everything else is no tape.

I always love to throw a wrinkle in these conversations about tape no tape Muhahahaha

FWIW I tape every razor 1 layer of 3m, mine and everyone else's unless they ask for different... That is besides the point though

The stone, save the stone man LOL

Besides the spine wear what about those hugely expensive stones that you are wearing out twice as fast??? tape slides metal wears...

I can see Jimmy re-thinking the whole tape issue now hehehehe

thank you, Glen!!!!!!!!!!


This is the reason why I wanted to use tape use one layer now. Save those hones!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by DwarvenChef

I only tape when setting a bevel. I set it than remove the tape and "reset" without tape. Generally this saves a ton of wear and allows for non tape finishing.

Granted each razor is different and a few have had so much spine wear that I keep that tapped edge going the full hone job.

I'm trying to think about this, and it doesn't make sense. sorry, its you not me.
if you reset the bevel without tape, aren't you just removing metal from the shoulders of the bevel as well as the spine?

Originally Posted by GrEgZteR

Ok, I have finally gotten my razor to shave ready, therefore I think I learned how to hone properly. I'm not gonna lie it took some time to learn. I've been using to layers of tape when honing. I'm doing that to preserve the spine. Now what would you suggest should I keep doing the same thing or change my technique (with out the tape) and why?

Gregory

You said: "I have finally gotten my razor to shave ready,"

So what ever you are doing works... stick with it for a while.

Refresh the edge with the same amount of tape and same
hone you last used.

It is entirely up to you as guided by your personal shave test.

For me any hone coarser than 1K gets tape on the spine.
When switching to or honing on a 1K hone I remove the tape
for the last ten or 20 hone strokes on the 1K to set the final
bevel and do not use tape on my 4K/8k/12K hones.

This guideline (not a rule) seems to strike a good balance and
uses a fast enough hone to set the bevel for the finer hones that
are gentler on the spine.

Once correctly honed I find that all I need is my 12K and
a rare visit to my Norton 4k/8k combo to refresh the edge.
i.e. no tape.

Hi,

I'm just starting to to hone my own razors at I acquire them. I prefer no tape. but have used tape on an wedge with lots of wear. For me I'm looking to get a working edge with the least trouble.

I read somewhere, I think in the wiki here, that you can make some passes on an 8000 hone to see how much work you have to do by looking for the shiny line you just made with the 8000.

- Mike

Originally Posted by bassguy

I'm trying to think about this, and it doesn't make sense. sorry, its you not me.
if you reset the bevel without tape, aren't you just removing metal from the shoulders of the bevel as well as the spine?

Yes.
The strategy to which you were replying is used when a lot of work needs to be done on the edge. By taping the spine during most of the steel removal at the edge, the spine (and Glen's hone) is protected. When the edge looks good and the bevel is almost entirely set, the tape is removed for final bevel setting. At this point, as you speculated, most of the steel removal is at the shoulder of the taped bevel, but it takes very little to convert a taped bevel to an untaped bevel because the angular difference is so slight.

I'm with utopian and tom, but I might tape with a 1k hone, if there were alot of work required, but at that rate I'd be wishing I had a more coarse hone and would certainly tape.

As you hone with a coarse hone and tape the tape does wear, and depending on how fast it wears you either work your way towards no tape and a flat bevel, or possibly no tape and a convex bevel. In the end if I dont want a double bevel I work towards not taping, because otherwise between wearing tape and retaping you are likely to end up with a double bevel. not that that's a bad thing.

anywho.. yes, once you get to finishing spine wear is minimal, and if you can finish with a single bevel, and no tape, it just feels better to me.

Perhaps it is faux pax to ask a question on someone else's thread but, with regards to taping, does anyone know what the optimal bevel angle is? Can one really have too little angle and should most razors with significant hone wear be taped in order to keep sharp?

Originally Posted by ezpz

As you hone with a coarse hone and tape the tape does wear, and depending on how fast it wears you either work your way towards no tape and a flat bevel, or possibly no tape and a convex bevel. In the end if I dont want a double bevel I work towards not taping, because otherwise between wearing tape and retaping you are likely to end up with a double bevel. not that that's a bad thing.

There is an easy way to avoid this. I only tape when I'm asked to do so, but when I tape, I use a lot of tape. That is, I replace tape frequently and when I am done setting the bevel, I replace the tape again and do at least 10 strokes. I then move up to 2k and when I'm done with that, I replace the tape and do 10 strokes with the fresh tape. I always finish on the hone with fresh tape to ensure that the taped angle is accurate. On the higher grits, I may stay with one piece of tape for two steps but that's because the number of strokes are lower and the pressure is lighter. I of course replace the tape before using the final finishing hone.
Also, I use black tape from 1k to 2k, brown tape for 3k to 5k, and red tape from 8k to final finisher. Don't let anyone fool you. The colors matter!