Thread: Some Thoughts on Taping the Spine while honing

This is a very controversial subject around here so I thought I would take a few minutes and write about a few things I have found to be true about taping the spine... These are not thoughts these are from experience with taping every single razor I hone unless otherwise requested....

I only use 1 layer of tape while honing, I know some use more, but I have never found it to be necessary even on the big huge wedges... so these quotes pertain to one layer only...

Some things that I believe are facts about using tape:

It does save the spine
It does help with those minor warps
It does help even up the bevel when there is un-even hone wear on the spine
It does create less wear on the stones
It does create way less swarf on the stones
It does not effect stropping in the least after you take off the tape
It does not take tons of honing to eliminate the taped bevel should one decide to (about 20 laps on a 1k Norton does it)
It does make the stroke down the hone smoother


These are things I believe to be true:

It helps create that very, very, slight torque toward the edge needed when honing...
It helps to create a slightly stronger edge
It helps to create a slightly smaller bevel
The edges seem to last longer
I really seriously doubt that anyone is capable of feeling the difference between a taped spine edge and an un-taped one while shaving...
I really seriously doubt that anyone in their lifetime will ever see the effects of taping a spine creating a too steep angle to hone the razor...

I am not saying you should tape the spine, or you shouldn't tape the spine, I am just saying what I have found to be true so far.... Meet me here same time same channel in 10 years and let's compare notes again...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I really seriously doubt that anyone is capable of feeling the difference between a taped spine edge and an un-taped one while shaving...
I really seriously doubt that anyone in their lifetime will ever see the effects of taping a spine creating a too steep angle to hone the razor...

I have a 6/8 wedge razor with a 25 degree honing angle. It hones and shaves like any other wedge of comparable size. The only real difference when shaving is that the shank is thicker than you'd expect from looking at the blade size.

Tape away in clear conscience.

When I first came around to SRP and decided I wanted to get into honing in a serious way I was confused about this. One member even posted against taping the spine as a moral issue. Early on when I went over to forum member and IMO honemiester The Topher's house he taped the spine on my Goldedge before he honed it.

After he was done I asked him if he taped all of the razors that he honed and he said that he taped all that he honed for others. He said that he wasn't going to return a razor to a customer that wasn't cosmetically as nice as when he had received it.... or something the that effect.

I began to tape because I wasn't confident in my ability and I figured if I ended up doing far more laps then necessary and/or used too much pressure I wouldn't put excess wear on the spine. I figured that once I felt confident that I knew my way around a razor hone I could choose whether to tape or not. I have reached that point and I choose to tape. For now anyway although I reserve the right to change my mind.

It is reassuring to me to hear from members with far more knowledge and experience then I have that they find no harm in taping the spine and maybe even some benefits.

This one of those areas that's like a personality contest.........So much personal preference. It is also something new that really wasn't used much before a couple years ago when Tim Zowada started doing it to protect his damascus patterns when he started making straight razors. For me it's like the old lady who says.......It vouldn't hoit........

To me, it is really not necessary routinely and I usually only do it to preserve the spine or if I have excess edge to remove or to protect a damascus pattern.

It is an option too for wedges that have been destroyed with multiple bevels, edges and shoulder flattening. Instead or evenly flattening the spine and edge to the proper geometry, you can tape the spine and get there quicker.

The disclamer is always that "This razor was honed using tape. It may effect the way you choose to refresh or rehone the razor".

I'd say, whatever floats your boat.

Have fun,

Lynn

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

It does create less swarf so to speak, however I end up with the particles from the tape ending up all over the hone and it sticks, all that way through to 8k. I find this to be worse than swarf because the particles can ruin your edge.
Because of the wearing tape sticking to the hone, I am required to pull out my dressing hone and give it a few rubs to refresh the surface. Thus in actuality I am causing more wear on the hone, by using the dressing stone, than I would by not using tape.

This actually might be something I did not even think of, "The difference in stones being used".....

I actually figured that similar grits would be similar, but that might not be true..... Different stones even though being similar in polishing ability might react differently to the tape??????

There might be another variable at work here to that I did not think of, "Do you guys not change the piece of tape as you switch stones" ????
I change the tape anytime I can visually see wear on it, obviously after any low grit work, before moving to the 4k arena, and absolutely positively before that final stone whatever it might be....

I warned you I have a slight case of OCD

I generally hone a razor from start to finish. I strip the tape off and discard it when I am through with it. I usually don't cause much wear on the tape at all even when setting a bevel. There have been a couple of exceptions to that and in those cases I changed the tape when I felt the wear might be a problem.

I found some stripey electrical tape. It is yellow with green stripes. The green stripes are printed on. Once they "thin" I change the tape. They wear after about 30 laps on a DMT 1200. I don't rutinely tape the spine.

This is what i think
taping will help temporary-- time will come and you must take out tape.Or you simply can't hone anymore.About taking out tape. i do if have taped 3 layers and top tape warn down i change last layer that is it first 2 stays in there.i keep all 3 until i am done include stropping.

Well look - here's the thing for me. For the past 2 years I have had to hone my razors maybe once in every nine months or so. In all honesty, how many lifetimes will I have to live to see the effects of spine taping at that rate?

Restoration bevel setting aside (which in my opinion should only ever need to happen once on a well-maintained razor), if you are finding you are honing your razors so regularly that taping really is an issue (in terms of bevel angle and blade geometry), perhaps you should be concentrating less on the taping issue and more on why you need to hone so often.

James.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Restoration bevel setting aside (which in my opinion should only ever need to happen once on a well-maintained razor), if you are finding you are honing your razors so regularly that taping really is an issue (in terms of bevel angle and blade geometry), perhaps you should be concentrating less on the taping issue and more on why you need to hone so often.

This is definitely true, but the cosmetic benefits of taping the spine are still valid even if you only hone your razors once a year. It's been over a year since I had to refresh one of my razors, and when I did I taped the spine. Not out of any worry that a simple touch-up honing was going to ruin the cosmetics, but because there was no point putting any unnecessary wear on the razor, and with the cheap availability of electrical tape any spine wear can reasonably be considered unnecessary.

I don't do the honemeistering thing, but occasionally I do hone razors for local newbies, and there I wouldn't even consider not taping the spine. I had a guy over yesterday from north Houston with a AOS TI, and the first thing I did was slap a piece of tape on it.