Thread: Honing with taped spine

Hello gents...
I just wanted to ask, if I hone a razor with spine taped with one layer of electrical insulation tape, do I have to strop it that way also, or can I just remove the tape prior to stropping? Would there be any difference in the angle or anything that I'm not aware of?
Thanks...

You don't have to tape the spine to strop, even though it was honed with tape. The difference in angle (between taped and un-taped) is minimized when you factor in the compliance of the leather strop.

I recently honed a wedge blade with two layers of tape, and it felt that the strop was not making contact with the cutting edge.

I re-set it to one layer, and will be testing it tonight.....

I've honed wedges with two layers of tape and they strop great wiht hanging strop.

With one layer, you are fine on any strop

With two layers I would tape if I was using a paddle on a small razor, but you really don't need more than one layer....

With more than two layers, what are ya thinking????

Yes I know on some razors people use more than one layer of tape, and sometimes I do too for cutting a stubborn bevel, but you just back it down gradually to one layer and yer fine...

Originally Posted by loueedacat

I've honed wedges with two layers of tape and they strop great wiht hanging strop.

It may just be the razor is a nice heavy wedge, so it sounds/feels different on the strop than I'm used to?

I have another razor I used two layers on, and that one feels fine...

I'm going to to give it a shot right now.

If your aim is to protect the spine, you could try what I do - tape it with 1 or 2 layers of tape -( never used 3). If it needs a lot of metal removal, renew the damaged top layer of tape for each hone. If it doesn't need that much attention, let the tape get worn through to the spine and even if it requires a lot of work, on the middle range hones etc let it get worn through. That way you don't get too much wear, you protect against scrapes on the tang, and you don't have to bother yourself about whether you need to tape or not before stropping - that's just too tedious for me! YMMV, of course!

Another thing to consider is: if you have kept the taping thickness up throughout honing, you can compensate by letting the strop hang a little looser. You might round a few edges before you get the hang (ha ha - no pun intended) but it works.

Regards,
Neil