Thread: taping my spine

Hi i have read up on taping the spine but it all got a bit technicale for me. I am just thinking i might be better to tape my spine as this would protect my razors from the odd scrape now and again which i cause by just contacting my spine across the hone which sounds allfull its is only now and again as i'm getting a lot better at the technique.I used the tape method once and must say it seemed a lot smoother and i found it alot easier but i was worried about messing up the bevel. I feel it would be a safer way for me to hone as i hve only been practicing honing the last 8 months if some one could just let me no if would be ok to hone with tape and if it would cause me any major problems i will just be mainly touching up my razors thanxs gary.

Gary, I'm not sure if I read your description correctly but the spine of your razors *MUST* rest on the hone during honing. Anything else will cause you problems. Taping the spine is done to protect from wear on the spine during honing. Some gents do it all the time, some do it only with their prized new razors or more particularly those that have patterns in the spine area such as some that have gold leaf wrapped around, Damascus blades or laser engraving etc. but in all cases the spine rests on the hone during honing. A single layer of electrical tape wrapped around the spine will allow you to hone with the spine (protected by the tape) resting on the hone.

The technical part come in if you wish to go back to honing without the tape later. If you hone a razor with tape on the spine, you change the bevel angle slightly but this is not a problem if you continue to add the tape each and every time you hone that razor. If you wish to stop using tape with such a razor, you'll have additional honing to do to restore the bevel to it's no-tape angle.

Spines should not scratch if they touch the hone... they should look as smooth as the bevel. If you get a glaring scratch it's because there was a piece of grit on the hone (which would be equally bad for the edge) or you've got a sharp corner on your hone which again, is bad for the edge of the razor as well as the spine. Always round the corners slightly on your hones to avoid this.

I only have one razor I bother to tape, it's a Custom razor made by Joe Chandler for me and I prefer to keep it looking new for as long as I can. All my other razors were used when I got them so I don't worry about the hone wear... it's only cosmetic anyway in most cases.


Regards

Christian

Yes I used to tape my spine all the time. It really helped with my back problems and my doctor told me to...oh you mean the spine of your razor.

If you have a razor with a double bevel on it like the Zowada's and you wish to preserve that you have to double tape the spine. Other than that its usually done as has been said to save a fancy edge from wear. Some do it on purpose to change the angle a bit but if you decide to do it you will have to always do it to keep the angle the same. If you are doing some really heavy duty honing like on a 1K or lower or even a lot on the 4K people will tape to save the wear and tear on the edge of the spine. If your just doing a touchup or routine stuff I wouldn't tape unless you have one of those fancy jobs.