Thread: Do you tape the spine?

I lucked out and found a very experienced straight razor shaver/honer who lives 1/2 hour from me and was gracious enough to invite me over and show me first hand his honing and stropping technique. He honed a Goldedge that I had picked up on the bay. It was about as sharp as a butter knife when he started and was as shave ready as can be when he was finished 45 minutes later. My honing and stropping has improved greatly since he showed me his method which is more or less in line with Lynn's video.

He tapes the spine on razors that have little or no hone wear. This makes sense to me and I may start doing that as I accumulate more straights. Of course if you tape the spine to set the bevel you have to tape it every time you hone it. I am wondering how many of you fellows tape the spines on your razors?

Even if there is significant hone wear, if it's still a nice razor, taping the spine will delay the inevitable.
I tape the spine on anything with goldwash, or blueing, anything new or with limited hone wear, or a worked back.
In actuality, there is very little I don't tape. Even if it isn't a special razor to me, I don't know if the razor was somebody's grandfather's, or what, My philosophy is do what you want with your razors, but if you are honing someone else's tape the spine.

If everyone tapes the spine....always..... the second hand razor market is dead.

The whole point about the untaped spine is that it tells you the age of the razor.
The razor is TRUE. You can see the hone wear on the spine, it tells you the usage on the blade.

So if a razor is taped, how will you know if a razor was originally a 3/4" or a 11/16" or a 5/8". Does it matter? Yes it does because razors do not last forever. A 3/4" honed to 5/8" is not a very good razor. It does not shave well.

I'm going to say strongly something I feel deeply, having watched the second hand razor market develop over the years. Taping the spine of a razor is like clocking the milage meter on a car.

In my opininion it should be illegal if you ever intend to trade the razor.

If you wish to experiment, do what you like, but when you have finished don't forget to throw the razor in the bin or clearly label it as "honed with a taped spine".

Some say they do it to protect the gold or etching on the blade. Sorry, but once the honing cuts into the etching, the blade is beyond its sell by date.

If you don't believe me, buy a tired looking razor off e bay and see for yourself. Or buy a refurb. that looks as if the blade is under size and see if you can get a good shave out of it.

You know, you can make a butter knife razor sharp. But you will never get a good shave out of a butter knife.

Originally Posted by English

Taping the spine of a razor is like clocking the milage meter on a car.

It isn't like that at all! I fail to grasp the analogy.

Originally Posted by English

In my opininion it should be illegal if you ever intend to trade the razor.

Nutter. That's absurd. What would be the charge? I can see the headlines already:

"Hobbyist Jailed Due To Sticky Situation"
"The Barber Who Thought He Could Get Away With Selling a Tampered Rusty Razor"
"500 LBS Of Contraband Razors Nabbed By Border Guards In Largest Sting To Date"
"Law Enforcement Officer Cuts Self While Trying to Apprehend Black Market Razor-Taper"

False advertising is already against the law, and somehow I doubt that anyone will be honing razors with tape for years just so they can resell later on as new

Originally Posted by English

If everyone tapes the spine....always..... the second hand razor market is dead.

The whole point about the untaped spine is that it tells you the age of the razor.
The razor is TRUE. You can see the hone wear on the spine, it tells you the usage on the blade.

Good point.

So if a razor is taped, how will you know if a razor was originally a 3/4" or a 11/16" or a 5/8". Does it matter? Yes it does because razors do not last forever. A 3/4" honed to 5/8" is not a very good razor. It does not shave well.

I think this will depend on the razor. I have many razors that have been honed far beyond 1/8 of what they started out as, and they are perfectly fine.

From a metalurgical stand point, the razor is a homogenous piece of steel that has been hardened equally from spine to edge. So you could literally hone the razor into dust before the steel's properties become unsuitable.

But from a geometric stand point, taping the spine will increase the bevel angle as the razor ages and is sharpened, thus making it more and more obtuse and eventually unusable. But that'll be a long way down the road.

I'm going to say strongly something I feel deeply, having watched the second hand razor market develop over the years. Taping the spine of a razor is like clocking the milage meter on a car.

In my opininion it should be illegal if you ever intend to trade the razor.

If you wish to experiment, do what you like, but when you have finished don't forget to throw the razor in the bin or clearly label it as "honed with a taped spine".

Some say they do it to protect the gold or etching on the blade. Sorry, but once the honing cuts into the etching, the blade is beyond its sell by date.

But it is a valid method of honing damascus razors and those with spine decoration that would be devalued by honing without tape.

If you don't believe me, buy a tired looking razor off e bay and see for yourself. Or buy a refurb. that looks as if the blade is under size and see if you can get a good shave out of it.

I have, the shaves are generally fine.

You know, you can make a butter knife razor sharp. But you will never get a good shave out of a butter knife.

Not to be a smart ass, but that is because butter knives are made of junk steel or silver (antiques etc.).

I have a paring knife that I made out of 1095 steel that will actually take a finer edge than some of my razors (tried it just for fun one time). The intended purpose of the item has nothing to do with the edge it will take, it's a matter of steel composition and hardening procedure. And by "finer edge" I mean sharp as well as tough, which is what a razors edge is.

But you make a good point on the deception factor, an extremely worn razor ought to show that wear.

I dont tape the spine of my razors, even if must be to remove nicks 1-2 mm.
I like the natural wear of my razors.
Spine wear must be proportional with edge wear for blade geometry reasons.( the diference between a 5/8 and 6/8 blade is aprox. 3mm.
and they have diferent spine width.
I dont like to shave with a razor with 6/8 spine width and a 5/8 blade.
Shaving is better with a pre 6/8 razor with 5/8 blade and a lot of spine wear.

Originally Posted by Slant-Fan

I lucked out and found a very experienced straight razor shaver/honer who lives 1/2 hour from me and was gracious enough to invite me over and show me first hand his honing and stropping technique. He honed a Goldedge that I had picked up on the bay. It was about as sharp as a butter knife when he started and was as shave ready as can be when he was finished 45 minutes later. My honing and stropping has improved greatly since he showed me his method which is more or less in line with Lynn's video.

Great!

He tapes the spine on razors that have little or no hone wear. This makes sense to me and I may start doing that as I accumulate more straights. Of course if you tape the spine to set the bevel you have to tape it every time you hone it.

You can set the bevel on the razor with tape (do the rough cutting on a coarse stone), then remove the tape and do a few more strokes on the coarse stone, just enough to bring the razor back to it's intended bevel, and procede as per usual with the finishing stones. This decreases the spine wear but makes it possible for someone to hone it without tape sometime down the road.

I am wondering how many of you fellows tape the spines on your razors?

I do, when it is necessary. And that is a personal judgement.

Great poll! It's good to know where people stand on issues like this.

The point about not being able to see the reduction in the width of the blade is that such a blade has lost its integrity. The springiness has gone. If you tape the spine its almost impossible to tell. Yes it will shave(like a butter knife) but not with the same feel of the original. Not as the manufacturer had originally intended.

What I mean by illegal should not be taken literally. If a razor has had a taped spine, it is not what I would call an "honest" razor.

My final point refers to razors that have damascus blades or decorated spines. Well to be honest, if the only way to hone such a razor is with tape, I would suggest to you that there s a fundamental design fault.

I have had (and sold on this forum) a DOVO (Micarta) that has fancy etching all over the blade. It will take years of honing before the honing might upset the esthetic properties. Infact, the blade quality will deteriorate before the esthetics.

What's the problem with the fine honing line on the spine of a damascus blade getting marginally wider over time.

I think the problem comes from people learning to hone. Overhoning and then selling off a "dishonest" razor that has been taped and then overhoned.

I'm not referring to forum members who tend to understand these things as well as I do, but there are a lot of dishonest razors out there. I think that taping will proliferate rather than reduce the problem. That's my only real concern. Otherwise I'm just being a bit mischievous to give you the argument for not taping.

Originally Posted by English

The point about not being able to see the reduction in the width of the blade is that such a blade has lost its integrity. The springiness has gone. If you tape the spine its almost impossible to tell. Yes it will shave(like a butter knife) but not with the same feel of the original. Not as the manufacturer had originally intended.

What I mean by illegal should not be taken literally. If a razor has had a taped spine, it is not what I would call an "honest" razor.

My final point refers to razors that have damascus blades or decorated spines. Well to be honest, if the only way to hone such a razor is with tape, I would suggest to you that there s a fundamental design fault.

I have had (and sold on this forum) a DOVO (Micarta) that has fancy etching all over the blade. It will take years of honing before the honing might upset the esthetic properties. Infact, the blade quality will deteriorate before the esthetics.

What's the problem with the fine honing line on the spine of a damascus blade getting marginally wider over time.

I think the problem comes from people learning to hone. Overhoning and then selling off a "dishonest" razor that has been taped and then overhoned.

I'm not referring to forum members who tend to understand these things as well as I do, but there are a lot of dishonest razors out there. I think that taping will proliferate rather than reduce the problem. That's my only real concern. Otherwise I'm just being a bit mischievous to give you the argument for not taping.

I totaly agree!

I think Yannis has it right. Taping the spine distorts the geometry of the blade and thus impairs performance. My view is the razor is tool that will inevitably wear with use. Thsu enabling me to justify acquiring new ones.