Thread: Electrical tape...Multiple layers?

I honed a couple of wedges just not long ago. I always start on 3 layers. I work my way down to 1 layer. Why just incase the bevel becomes over sized . It can be dread ful if not and you end up with half the razor with a big ugly bevel. One or no layers gives better sahve as the angle of bevel is much better . Giving a smoother shave

Originally Posted by gary haywood

I honed a couple of wedges just not long ago. I always start on 3 layers. I work my way down to 1 layer. Why just incase the bevel becomes over sized . It can be dread ful if not and you end up with half the razor with a big ugly bevel. One or no layers gives better sahve as the angle of bevel is much better . Giving a smoother shave

Gary i cannot believe what are you saying?
how in the world ?

One or no layers gives better sahve as the angle of bevel is much better .

would you explain this?

I always use one layer of tape on my normal razors (hollow) because I have a norton 4/8K and it can eat my spines fast. On a wedge blade I would use two or three pieces depending on the angle of the spine on the hone (Should be flat without tape, etc).

Simple, really.

As mentioned earlier I only use tape when I have damege to remove. Otherwise it's a no tape zone here.

So what did the old timers do before they could run to Ace Hardware and pick up a roll of 3M #33 (10,000 volts per wrap)?

Another question, as it runs counter intuitively for me: why reduce the number of layers of tape during the honing process, which would elevate the edge off the hone, rather than add layers which would keep the edge in contact with the hone?

I just picked up a near wedge straight on e-bay and had to tape the spine with 4 layers of elect tape to set a nice bevel. I kept the tape on the blade thru 1k 5k 8k 12k and then removed the tape and stropped it on newspaper, iam no honemister but it works for me.

I have never heard of removing tape layers while moving up the grit scale on the hones, that's confusing to me also. I keep the same amount of tape the whole way up until the stropping step.
EDIT: a question; what does tape do to a razor if you used it for say...ten years on a razor? Is this going to cause issue with stone contact?

Originally Posted by Bruce

So what did the old timers do before they could run to Ace Hardware and pick up a roll of 3M #33 (10,000 volts per wrap)?

Another question, as it runs counter intuitively for me: why reduce the number of layers of tape during the honing process, which would elevate the edge off the hone, rather than add layers which would keep the edge in contact with the hone?

Well Bruce, I think that the old barbers didn't care about that because those were their everyday tools: they didn't see them as part of their collection; I got a couple of Filarmonicas from an old barber and they are evenly wore on the spine side. In these blades I use one layer of tape during the honing process...

Cheers!!!

I just honed a english wedge razor. When I used 3 layers of tape the bevel was huge so I moved up to 5 still the bevel was still quiet big. To sum up in order to get a nice bevel that was sharp enought I ended up using 10 layers of tape. Huge mistake?

I am on the agree with not taping team unless you are taping when you need to remove a lot of steel from an edge or to protect a Damascus pattern or a fancy spine.

When you tape on a razor, specifically a wedge that has uneven and excessive hone or grinding on the spine that is in different places, ie, heel, middle or toe and then different on both sides of the razor, a layer of tape will only mimic the faults already in the spine and you will end up with a bevel that reflects the damage in the spine. Even with significant honing, it is pretty hard to get a decent bevel here. You can add up to 4 layers of tape on a razor and it will still reflect some of the uneven wear on the spine, although it will be to a less degree. You have to really watch this in your bevels as you are honing. When removing steel or resetting a bevel in this manner and when starting on a 220 grit stone, you do need to change the tape frequently as you will see it wearing through layers pretty quickly. The trick if you want to tape like this is to put enough layers of tape on the razor to minimize the effect of the hone wear on the spine and create a mini-bevel that will be consistent across the edge.

You guys have fun with this.........

Lynn