Thread: Complicated (?) taping question

I can't help but take a crack at this. The tape won't wear evenly across the spine. The leading edge of the tape will wear soonest and the most. The softer leading edge of the tape will allow the spine to maintain it's harder and dominant position thus keeping the honing along the same plane.

Originally Posted by Obelisk

I can't help but take a crack at this. The tape won't wear evenly across the spine. The leading edge of the tape will wear soonest and the most. The softer leading edge of the tape will allow the spine to maintain it's harder and dominant position thus keeping the honing along the same plane.

I think I understand this. It introduces another variable, the amount of hone wear on the spine. On a new blade (depending on how the spine is shaped) only a very thin strip of the tape is involved. Abrasion force would be concentrated (on the tape) and result in fast wear. On a spine with much hone wear, a broader area of tape would be involved (the width of the wear on the spine), and would be at the same angle (relative to the central axis of the blade) as the bevel. Still seems to me that under those conditions the tape would wear relatively quickly compared to the steel bevel, and begin the canting process.

There would be a visual clue of this - I think. As the leading edge of the blade rises because of the new angle established by the wearing tape, the water in front of the blade would stop making the blade wave. In experienced hands, and I'm out of my league here, light torquing would maintain the blade wave. Experienced hands would know when there's too much torque and tape replacement is needed. Inexperienced hands would need to make tape changes more often.