Jamie and the others are right, start with tape and stick with the tape untill the end. You may be abel to get a good edge after with removing the tape but I can garantee if you leave the tape on you will get there in a fraction of the strokes and wont wear the spine as a bonus.

Anyways you are going to strop and use some pastes for a good couple of months untill it needs honing again if you have only a couple of other razors that like once or twice a year. What's 3 inch of tape once or twice a year?

for what its worth, 2 years into the honing I am fully converted to using tape all the time now.