Thread: Taping while honing

I've been honing quite a bit lately and have had time to think about the process. After trying taping the spine on a razor I noticed that the tape had started to wear as expected. Having some machining experience that got the wheels turning. A few thousandths of an inch can make a difference when centering a part in a lathe for example. Same with tightening the jaws of the lathe chuck, you can see how many thousandths of an inch it moves on a dial indicator in relation to how tight it is.

With all this in mind I got to wondering about the changes in thickness of the tape. Theoretically replacing worn tape with new would mean the angle of the spine would change in relation to the edge of the blade. Whereas leaving the spine un-taped means that the wear of the spine would remain constant in relation to the edge.

I don't consider myself an expert at honing and typically fall into the no tape camp with few exceptions. Like many theoretical ideas the real question is does it really matter in the long run? What does everyone think?

Yes tape wears as you hone but that's why you need to replace it frequently, to keep the same angle.
It doesn't matter but people who use tape must have more patience than I do

The tape can be a useful tool in that regard. I generally use the same tape all the way to my finishing hone, then replace it, it definitely adds a little to the angle and in theory gives you a secondary bevel but it also makes you sure your honing all the way to the edge. I’ve never seen a secondary by the time I come off the finisher as the change in angles is so slight. One of the many tricks I’ve learned from reading around here.

I have used tape on the spine for many years and will continue to do so.

I view hone wear on the spine as ugly. I use 1 layer on German ground full hollows and 3 layers on wedges. The 3 layers create a better honing angle for the wedges.

Just my 2¢

Has 6 months gone by ?????


We will cut you some slack as #1 you are new #2 you like Z28's


ps: This is the real theory "Whereas leaving the spine un-taped means that the wear of the spine would remain constant in relation to the edge."
and the reason tape became popular


No it simply dosesn't matter in the real world

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Has 6 months gone by ?????

Didn't know there was actually a timing to this question.

Originally Posted by CamaroZ28

I've been honing quite a bit lately and have had time to think about the process. After trying taping the spine on a razor I noticed that the tape had started to wear as expected. Having some machining experience that got the wheels turning. A few thousandths of an inch can make a difference when centering a part in a lathe for example. Same with tightening the jaws of the lathe chuck, you can see how many thousandths of an inch it moves on a dial indicator in relation to how tight it is.

With all this in mind I got to wondering about the changes in thickness of the tape. Theoretically replacing worn tape with new would mean the angle of the spine would change in relation to the edge of the blade. Whereas leaving the spine un-taped means that the wear of the spine would remain constant in relation to the edge.

I don't consider myself an expert at honing and typically fall into the no tape camp with few exceptions. Like many theoretical ideas the real question is does it really matter in the long run? What does everyone think?

First and foremost, while I didn't believe it when I started honing and using tape there is a Huge Difference between the cheap electrical black tape that you find at most places to the 3M 700 tape that was recommended to me by a Pro Honer.

The 3M 700 has much more wear resistance. That's no bull!


I still am a bit anal as I change the tape after setting the bevel (if the bevel is taking awhile, I re-tape) and then I change tape after the 1K--the 4K then the 8K and then when I go to a finisher. (If I go from say a Naniwa 12K to a Coti, I again change tape). As Glen (GSSIXGUN) said in his video when he was helping speedster learn to hone "Tape's Cheap".

Just my two bits------------for those youngsters that $0.25 USD

has anyone actually measured the thickness of the taped spine before and after honing? I would think that the difference in thickness would be so minute (unless one is using a very heavy hand and never changes the tape) that is wouldn't make that much difference. In one of Glen's videos he demonstrates how few strokes it actually takes to reset the bevel when switching from tape to no tape.It really doesn't take that many, so the few thousandths or tenth of a thousandth wouldn't matter. JMHO

Originally Posted by tintin

has anyone actually measured the thickness of the taped spine before and after honing? I would think that the difference in thickness would be so minute (unless one is using a very heavy hand and never changes the tape) that is wouldn't make that much difference. In one of Glen's videos he demonstrates how few strokes it actually takes to reset the bevel when switching from tape to no tape.It really doesn't take that many, so the few thousandths or tenth of a thousandth wouldn't matter. JMHO

I actually have, sort of, I doubled a layer of 3M 700 over so the calipers wouldn’t stick to it and then just divided the result by 2 to find the thickness of a layer.

I won’t go into trigonometry, but as a rule of thumb, one layer of tape will increase the bevel angle by about 1 degree, with blade widths from about 5/8 to 7/8. A little less with wide blades and a little more with narrower ones.

Does that make a difference? Well it’s a continuing discussion as everyone who’s been on a razor forum for a while knows. IMO it does not in most cases, maybe if you’re already at the upper end, like 22-23 degrees but for razors in the normal 16-17 degree range maybe not so much. If you’re concerned about increasing the angle, try the 1mil Kapton tape. It’s actually 2.7 mil total including the adhesive, but still less than half the width of 7 or 8mil electrical tape. And it’s quite a bit more wear resistant which is a nice bonus.

2.7 mil, you had to bust out the micrometer for that one! Nice!

Very easy to overcome any change of angle caused by the tape you are using. I use kapton mainly but use electrical tape to 'fill in' any spine ware.