Thread: Could someone explain why they tape splines when honing?

When I first joined this site, the posts I read about taping the spine, was all about lessening the hone wear. If you have a dirty chip in the razor, then you gotta ramove metal, and it usually comes from both the edge and spine. Some say they do it to protect the worked spines, however, the worked spine razors I have seen, are not worked far enough down, that honing would effect it. The work is either on top of the spine, or the spine has a shape to it where the work is done. I have only seen a few worked spine razors, so perhaps there are some out there that are worked too far.

I don't tape, because I simply cannot comprehend the concept of taping. As mentioned the design of the razor is so it can be honed at the correct angle. But when your honing with tape, its at a correct angle apparently, but as the tape wears you have to replace it. So then the fresh tape is going to alter the angle of that bevel ever so slightly, but it will be altered, and the more times you replace the tape, in effect you are going to be slightly rounding that edge. This is the logic that my brain gives me, so I don't tape the spine. Plus if you tape the spine once, you have to do it all the time, because they say refreshing the edge or whatever without the tape, you won't be honing the edge, just creating a double bevel.

I have though taped the odd spine here and there. If I were to do that for a customer, then I would tell them, so when the time comes they are ready to learn to refresh an edge themselves, they won't run into any problems.

Just my 0.02

Originally Posted by tsenfw

I totally agree. I mean if that's how a razor is supposed to function why is spine wear viewed as ugly or bad and why try to prevent it? Sort of like putting plastic on an expensive couch lmao. I bet if you correctly hone a razor it will last a lifetime without spine wear becoming a honing issue.

That's true.
But on wedges, the hone wear will quickly become very ugly. That is simply a consequence from the wedge grind. The hone wear can be so bad that it become 1/4 wide, especially if the razor had no edge to begine with, and you need a 1000K stone to set new bevels.
While this won't affect shaving, it will be very ugly.
For full hollows this has never been an issue imo.

Also, some razors (most notable razors with a hamon) have a spine that is significantly softer than the edge. So as you hone and rehone them, the hone wear on the spin can get really bad, because you have to hone a lot in order to remove just a bit of metal from the edge which is a lot harder.

I tape spines. For me, the angle change over time from wearing the edge and not the spine is so minimally affecting the shave that it doesn't bother me. That and I prefer to have little hone wear on the spine aesthetically. With so many razors of varying angle, I don't think it would bother many people. To me, a razor lasts LONGER this way, though I have yet to wear one out, period.

Also, I cannot speak for all custom razor makers, but I haven't talked to one yet who measures the thickness of spine versus the razor width so they can create the razor with a certain angle. Not saying people don't do it at all, but there are definitely high cost makers we respect who really give it little thought besides getting it in a ballpark. It's more of a common sense thing in that sense. There are plenty of different edge angles that will shave you VERY comfortably.

One last thing- you see a lot of razors with varying BEVEL widths. Let's think about this- a wider bevel results from a razor with lots on spine wear. One piece of tape on the spine will increase the angle and decrease the bevel width. A wider bevel also means a thinner edge theoretically. i.e. the edge stays thinner for a wider distance than on a narrow bevel. To me that would also mean that the wide bevel isn't as strong and therefore keeps an edge for a shorter amount of time. I prefer a stronger edge. So those are some reasons that I like to tape the spines when honing.

P.S.- if I hone someone else's razor or sell one I've honed, I also let them know if tape was used. I think everyone should put that info up front.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Also, some razors (most notable razors with a hamon) have a spine that is significantly softer than the edge. So as you hone and rehone them, the hone wear on the spin can get really bad, because you have to hone a lot in order to remove just a bit of metal from the edge which is a lot harder.

Bruno brings up another good point. The razor below is from no later than the beginning of the 20th century IMO (blade) but I don't know an exact age. The spine is indeed brass which would wear muuuuch faster than the steel edge. Not using tape would render it useless very quickly.

Ahhh, and lastly (I think), there are old framebacks with replaceable blades. I have one that is a 6 blade set with one "spine". If you didn't use tape, theoretically the spine would lose 6 times the material per 1 time the material taken away on each of the 6 individual edges, once again rendering the razor useless 6 times as fast and having you create a new bevel angle every time you switched out a blade and honed a new one. Pointless if you ask me UNLESS you use tape.

Originally Posted by Philadelph

A wider bevel also means a thinner edge theoretically.

Only between razors with the same grind.
A wedge will have wider bevels than a hollow ground, even if all other properties of the razor (spine thickness and blade width) are the same.

Originally Posted by Bruno

A wedge will have wider bevels than a hollow ground, even if all other properties of the razor

Does that mean the 2-3mm bevel I have on a 5/8 almost full wedge is normal!?

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

Does that mean the 2-3mm bevel I have on a 5/8 almost full wedge is normal!?

Yes.
The honing angle is nearly equal to the slope of the grind (for want of a better word).
So if you remove a tiny sliver of metal from the bevel, the bevel suddenly widens a lot

I have attached an ms paint picture to illustrate.
Sorry for my crappy design skills, but this should get you the idea. It is supposed to be a cross cut of a razor which is dull and needs to be honed.
The wedgier the razor, the wider the bevel. If you had a perfectly pie shaped wedge, then the bevel would be as big as the blade face.