Thread: Taping the spine for honing

Masters of the hone, I have a couple questions regarding the issue of applying tape to the spine.
I understand the purpose is to correct a bad bevel or for some very aggressive chipped edge repair. What I don't understand is what happens after this step when you return to untaped honing? Now that the angle has changed slightly, would it not take just about as much effort to regain the original bevel before the edge will ever sharpen?
To clarify, once the tape is removed, would not the very edge of the razor now sit just slightly off the stone? How long would it take to bring everything back? Or, do you continue to tape the spine from then on?

Just trying to noodle all this stuff through my "Logic oriented kinda vulcan Spock like brain" lol

Later...

Yes the bevel will be slightly off. Depending on the thickness of that bevel (wedge vs full hollow) will determin wether or not it makes a difference. A full hollow bevel is frigging tiny and will hone away very quickly. There is not enough difference to worry about in my opinion. Now a wedge or other heavy bevel type blade could be an issue due to the amound of metal needed to be removed. In which case I'd be inclined to always use tape anyway.

Even on my DMT 320 the 1 application of tape lasted a full bevel regrind. I was quite suprised. You would have to decide if this approach is what you want. I'm hooked on the tape as there is no hone wear on the spine, I like that.

DMTs actually don't eat away at the tape very much for some reason. 1K sandpaper will chew through it in 30 laps.

Straight, I thought the same thing as you for a long time. Eventually I figured out that the angle change is so slight that it doesn't seem to make a difference. I was suprised that I could hone a razor with tape and then refresh it on a barber hone without retaping. I'm not sure of the math behind this, but it works.

Josh

The tape is not that thick if applied nice and tight. Anyone know the exact thickness of the electrical tape? I doubt it raises the blade angle so much that it would affect honing after the removal of the tape.

I have wondered this myself as well. I was told by some to always keep the electrical tape on the spine while I hone. I think it was because my two original razors were from a barber behind my house and there is a good amt of hone wear.

This advice was given to me by one of our own so I assumed it to be the way I always hone. Should this be correct? Have not used my straights in a bit and I will be honing them soon again.

3M electrical tape is 0.006" thick. It will add a little less than a degree to the edge bevel on a 7/8 and a little more than a degree on a 4/8.

Tim Z.

from the few razors that i have honed i have found that on a big wedge that has a wide bevel (~3mm) i had to leave the tape on through the final polishing. with full hollows that have a narrow bevel it wasnt an issue. the bevel reformed very quickly once the tape was removed. on the wedge i will have to always tape it to refresh the edge. if i dont tape it the polishing starts at the very back of the bevel and takes a long time to reach the edge.

like i stated i am pretty new to all of this. i am experimenting with a number of different variables trying to figure this out also.

cheers,
ryan

When I first started with Str8's there was a big concern about the sanctity of the factory angle on the bevel. Over time people started measuring different razors and found that there was a good bit of angle variation. They also found out that the use of tape on the spine did not degrade the sharpness of the razor. So... don't worry about changing the angle of the factory bevel. There is nothing special about it.
A lot of us use tape for cosmetic reasons, it reduces the ugly hone wear on the spine. Also, a lot of us keep the tape on for all of the honing and remove it only for the final stropping. The exception to this is when a diamond pasted paddle strop is used. Then I remove the tape because it seems to plug up the paddle strop.

Just my two cents,

Great info Randy! Thanks very much and thanks to everyone that has jumped in. As always, lots of great info on this board!

AH, now I remember why I tape the spine