Thread: Two pieces of electrical tape?

Have you ever tried two pieces of electrical tape on top of each other to hone an edge on a frisky razor?

I recently was having a problem putting an edge towards the heel of the blade. I laid out the razor flat on some granite. I noticed that the way the spine was tapered that part of the blade barely made contact on the hone.

I was reading up on regular knife sharpening a couple months ago and I came across some information where depending on the type of blade or bevel you want to achieve [on big ass hunting knifes] you use your thumb (or finger, I don't remember) to raise the back of the knife's spine while you hone. It's height off the hone determines the bevel and also achieves proper contact (knife to hone).

It hit me, yes of course you can't get a thumb under there [razor] but you can raise the height of the spine by adding (more) electrical tape. It worked great, and in just a few passes I had a great shave ready bevel on it. Is there something wrong in doing this that I might regret down the road?

Originally Posted by bth88

Have you ever tried two pieces of electrical tape on top of each other to hone an edge on a frisky razor?

No, I have never had the need to do this.

Originally Posted by heavydutysg135

No, I have never had the need to do this.

Sounds good, have you ever had a hard to hone blade like I describe?

Yes many blades have a rounded heal as you describe. This is especially true of blades that have a smile. To hone this type of blade most experienced members use a rolling hone stroke and/or a 45 degree angle when honing. Curved blades are also easier to hone on narrow hones because only a small portion of the blade is comming in contact with the hone at one time. If you have stones that are thick enough you can use the side of them as a very narrow hone for curved blades/heals. I do not see how adding 2 pieces of electric tape would cause the curved heal to make better contact with the hone, but if it works for you then I don't really think that you will damage anything by doing this. Have fun.

Can't say I see how this would work either. I do use my thumb and forefinger to set the height of knife spines and therefore the bevel angle but that's completely different to a razor. I'm not big on swapping hands so I can't just use my thumb with knives.

Originally Posted by heavydutysg135

Yes many blades have a rounded heal as you describe. This is especially true of blades that have a smile. To hone this type of blade most experienced members use a rolling hone stroke and/or a 45 degree angle when honing. Curved blades are also easier to hone on narrow hones because only a small portion of the blade is coming in contact with the hone at one time. If you have stones that are thick enough you can use the side of them as a very narrow hone for curved blades/heals. I do not see how adding 2 pieces of electric tape would cause the curved heal to make better contact with the hone, but if it works for you then I don't really think that you will damage anything by doing this. Have fun.

I understand exactly what you're describing but this was not that type of issue. Check this out below.

Originally Posted by bth88

I recently was having a problem putting an edge towards the heel of the blade. I laid out the razor flat on some granite. I noticed that the way the spine was tapered that part of the blade barely made contact on the hone.

I laid it out flat and it was an issue with the spine.

I do not see how adding 2 pieces of electric tape would cause the curved heal to make better contact with the hone, but if it works for you then I don't really think that you will damage anything by doing this. Have fun.

I was not trying to get the curved heal to make contact in the way you where thinking. The blade for about a little less than a 1/2" forward of the heel was not making contact with the hone. Thank you for all your input.

I was wondering what some of the other guys thoughts were on this?

FWIW, I did see a post on another forum where Bill Ellis suggested two layers of tape for honing difficult wedges - changes the angle and keeps a little more metal off the hone.

Jordan

Originally Posted by jnich67

FWIW, I did see a post on another forum where Bill Ellis suggested two layers of tape for honing difficult wedges - changes the angle and keeps a little more metal off the hone.

Jordan

That's interesting, Bill is a knife guy as well

I guess that I really did not take the time to really understand what you were saying in your post before responding; sorry about that. No I have never had a razor that had a spine that did not make contact with the hone in one area like you describe. Like I said before if the double tape method works for you then I don't see why it would damage anything other than slightly changing the angle of the bevel.

Originally Posted by heavydutysg135

To hone this type of blade most experienced members use a rolling hone stroke and/or a 45 degree angle when honing.

Heavyduty, I use a 45 degree angle for wedges because Lynn said it worked, and it does. But how does the 45 degree thing work for a smiler? If the heel and toe don't touch when the razor lays flat, the only technique that compensates for that is the rolling hone stroke, no? I have a couple of smilers that if I'm going to get the toe and heel to contact the hone I practically have to lift the razor. As I don't feel much control honing while doing wheelies and endos, I've resigned myself to dull heels and toes on these.