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

Originally Posted by Chris L

Good points, Glen. Thanks for adding them as I wasn't thinking of things from those perspectives. I also think it's great that you do tell users how exactly you honed their razors.

Chris L

I figured the hone wear aspect would grab your attention "Mister HAD"

When I first came around to SRP I put up a poll ,"do you tape the spine"? I wanted to do it 'right' and figured I would see what the general consensus was. In the meanwhile I was buying ebay razors left and right to practice honing. At first I taped some and not others. It wasn't long before I found trying to recall which I had taped and which I had not became a PITA.

So I decided to tape all of them and that was that. So far so good. There are a few memebers who have strong feelings against taping spines. I figure that if Tim Zowada can take a thousand dollar razor start with 3 layers of tape and finish with one it ain't gonna hurt my razor to use one layer. Different strokes for different folks.

So is the spine designed to be a particular width to achieve a specific angle to the edge when honing? If so, then wouldn't you want the spine to get thinner as the edge moves into the blade? I'm thinking that eventually a 5/8 blade will become a 4/8 blade with enough honing. To maintain the same edge angle you would want a thinner spine... anything to that?

Originally Posted by Quick

So is the spine designed to be a particular width to achieve a specific angle to the edge when honing? If so, then wouldn't you want the spine to get thinner as the edge moves into the blade? I'm thinking that eventually a 5/8 blade will become a 4/8 blade with enough honing. To maintain the same edge angle you would want a thinner spine... anything to that?

Yes, to maintain the same angle the spine would need to thin as the razor was honed down from 5/8 to 4/8. I guess that would be the natural out growth of hone wear although I doubt it would happen at precisely the right rate to preserve the edge geometry. Personally, I would call that a worn out razor and move on.

If you look at razors from the same maker in different sizes you will see that the smaller blades are generally thinner through the spine than the big blades. Same geometric concept you are describing.

Originally Posted by Quick

So is the spine designed to be a particular width to achieve a specific angle to the edge when honing? If so, then wouldn't you want the spine to get thinner as the edge moves into the blade? I'm thinking that eventually a 5/8 blade will become a 4/8 blade with enough honing. To maintain the same edge angle you would want a thinner spine... anything to that?

Maybe so if you had one or two razors and did an awful lot of honing over many years. I for example have about a hundred of them. Once I get them sharp it is a long time before one sees a hone again. Also with all of the ebay specials I do a lot of honing to get rid of the chips and set the bevel. Not using tape would leave inordinate wear on the spine IMO. Also the thickness of a piece of electrical tape is really minimal.

Originally Posted by JimmyH-AD

Not using tape would leave inordinate wear on the spine IMO.

No more than the wear on the edge you're repairing right?

Also the thickness of a piece of electrical tape is really minimal.

I wasn't thinking of changing the angle so much with the tape but that the tape gets replaced each time as the edge gets worn/closer to the spine.

I don't know anything about razors so I guess my question is if spine thickness is part of the design specifically to achieve a particular angle on the edge 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

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 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.

Even in the scenario that you just described the angle difference would be at the most 1 degree, and considering that most razors range from 13-18 degrees that small change would not effect it .... In fact if you do some thinking on how the angles are both changing it might actually improve the strength of the edge