Thread: How often do you tape the spine?

Pretty much what I figured the results will show...

I use tape on ALL my razors and all the ones I hone for others, unless they specifically ask otherwise...

I just have to many razors to ever try and keep track of those with and those without...

One thing that I would say though, if you are prone to touching up your razors a lot, then hone w/o tape, like if you use a Barber's hone weekly or bi-weekly...

I didn't vote because mt response doesn't fit in there. I tape my Zowada razors because they need to be taped and I do my damascus to preserve the pattern in the spine and a few others with ornate spines. In general I do not tape.

didn't really have my category... I tape on MY nice razors and anyone else's razors. I don't tape on MY crappy razors... other people's crappy razors get tape.

I never tape my razors. I've tried using tape and it works fine, but the few times I've honed using the tape I quickly rehoned the razor with no tape. Also, I know it's been said many times that using 1 layer of tape doesn't affect stropping, but something about using a SLIGHTLY different angle to hone and strop (I know the give of the leather negates this effect) bothers my OCD brain.

Plus if I want to do a touch-up, I don't want to have to apply tape.

I can't vote on this issue because there is no box for sometimes yes and somethimes no.
The last, nearly 200 razors I have honed, have been a mixed bag at best. I normally like to hone someone elses razor using 1 piece of tape just to eliminate any further spine wear. Sometimes I am specifically asked not to use tape. I wouldn't even think of doing a Frameback or a full wedge without tape. Excessive hone wear sometimes dictates more than 1 piece of tape.
When I am doing honing on a coticule, I usually do not use tape, but massive honing almost requires it. When the edge keeps crumbling as you progress in the honing process, one of the solutions is to add tape. The increased angle of attack seems to change enough to stop it.
For my own razors, I normally do not use tape. Just a personal preference.

Ray