so I was practicing honing a couple razors last night and finishing them this morning, and got to wondering about the tape vs no tape thing.

right now I am liking the tape, as ive only honed a couple dozen razors, and sometimes get a bit heavy handed and put extra wear on the spine. and the tape helps as I can see that I would be putting the wear there and reminds me to lighten up. also I can see where when making razors for sale, that folks wouldn't like the hone marks on a fresh blade.

but I guess my question is how long it would take to notice a difference in the edge geometry by using tape all the time on a single razor? as in a person purchases a razor, and shaves with it every day, and hones it once every couple months with tape. ive worn out plenty of knives out using them hard, but there you are talking about cutting rope, wood, insulation, shingles, ect.. wrecking edges on staples and bone and constantly resetting edges and such. with a razor and just using even the relatively fine 1000 grit stone to reset a bevel, I cant imagine that we are really removing much steel during a normal honing.

would it take 5 years? 10? more? and would the increase in edge angle when you finally got out of the normal range be noticeable?