Thread: Taping the spine

You kidding....Right? Obviously, you have not read through the many, many threads here on tape/no tape?

Beating the dead horse!

Originally Posted by ItalianBarber77

OK - Yes, old post - and here I am revving it up with a "Reply", well, it's more a question to the topic, and so, why start a new thread, when this is the topic I want to discuss. Ready? - - What about before the time of tape? Before Dow Chemical made 3M, or Scotch 3M, or any adhesive films were ever made, straight razors were being manufactured, and correct me if I might be in err here, but chunks of mountains were being mined and smoothed and used to set these edges keen once more, by medieval men! -- -- So, what does anyone think about honing a "with tape" method, before there WAS tape to apply to the blade? Does this imply the TRUE method desired by cutlers and blacksmiths and razor makers all through those times? - That you simply apply blade to stone, and there you go!? Hone away! I lean to believe, Yes. That without the invention of tape, a blade was honed. How it was honed, wedges easily predate the hollow grind styles due to pure simplicity of design of blade, and thus ease of technique...
What say you, good forum trolls/moderators, and mentors?

I think the answer to your question might be... freehand. Sorry, it was rather difficult to follow.

So are you wanting to discuss how all this went in the times of apprenticeships and mentors, and those educated in the wide realm of sharpening all things compared to a bunch of people that are learning from internet videos?
I think once you have learned to hone tape is optional, until then you should use tape until you get your stuff figured out. There are plenty of posts of people stuffing razors in an attempt to learn how to hone. At the time before tape was invented there were also thousand of razors being made every week and none of them had become vintage or collectable yet. You can do what you want with your razors my are in safe hands.
That is pretty much all I am willing to say on the subject matter.

Originally Posted by RezDog

So are you wanting to discuss how all this went in the times of apprenticeships and mentors, and those educated in the wide realm of sharpening all things compared to a bunch of people that are learning from internet videos?
I think once you have learned to hone tape is optional, until then you should use tape until you get your stuff figured out. There are plenty of posts of people stuffing razors in an attempt to learn how to hone. At the time before tape was invented there were also thousand of razors being made every week and none of them had become vintage or collectable yet. You can do what you want with your razors my are in safe hands.
That is pretty much all I am willing to say on the subject matter.

Thanks RezDog. I know you are a BIG DOG in these parts. I've seen you all over. Much appreciate the conversation.

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Originally Posted by ItalianBarber77

Does this imply the TRUE method desired by cutlers and blacksmiths and razor makers all through those times? - That you simply apply blade to stone, and there you go!? Hone away! I lean to believe, Yes. That without the invention of tape, a blade was honed. How it was honed, wedges easily predate the hollow grind styles due to pure simplicity of design of blade, and thus ease of technique...
What say you, good forum trolls/moderators, and mentors?

Trolls tend to be removed fairly quickly.

Yes, before and after tape existed, honing has been done without tape. Let's address your specific question, "So, what does anyone think about honing a "with tape" method, before there WAS tape to apply to the blade?" Well, I'm quite certain that honing was done without tape before tape existed. Yup, I'm pretty confident in that prediction.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Well, I'm quite certain that honing was done without tape before tape existed. Yup, I'm pretty confident in that prediction.

I might be off base but......... I don't think you can predict the past......

And if I don't get flamed for that this is sure to do it.

My lack of razor honing experience and some experience making knives sharp enough to do what they're supposed to leads me to this thought. "setting the bevel" with one layers and kissing it would make it stupid easy to micro bevel your cutting edge witch in the knife world makes a better edge because it is sharp and durable.

I know I know. Razors are not knives and all that. I am not trying to say they I'm just introducing the idea to hear what the honemeisters might have to say. I'm banking on learning something by stirring the pot a little. And yes, I do plan to do the required studies before puting my as yet unpurchased beautiful Ralf Aust to leather or stone because I'm not gonna be messing her up at all.

Well, I do consider the past to be a bit easier to predict than the future, but we can set philosophy aside for now.

An advantage of doing what you described is that the bulk of steel removal is done during the bevel setting, so using tape during that stage, with the coarsest grit, prevents the greatest amount of steel removal from the spine.

Really, after that stage, whether you tape or not is much less relevant. You are not going to remove much from the spine after that, but you also are not going to maintain a micro bevel if you do it as you described. The reason for this is that it really does not take much to re-set the bevel angle on whatever hone you use after the bevel set.

If you actually want to create a micro bevel on a razor, then you wait until you reach the finishing hone, do whatever you normally would at that stage, and then add an additional layer of tape and do 10 or less strokes (depending on the hone used) using just the weight of the blade.

Good luck with your future Aust!

I predict that the St. Louis Cardinals will win the 1931 World Series.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Well, I do consider the past to be a bit easier to predict than the future, but we can set philosophy aside for now.

An advantage of doing what you described is that the bulk of steel removal is done during the bevel setting, so using tape during that stage, with the coarsest grit, prevents the greatest amount of steel removal from the spine.

Really, after that stage, whether you tape or not is much less relevant. You are not going to remove much from the spine after that, but you also are not going to maintain a micro bevel if you do it as you described. The reason for this is that it really does not take much to re-set the bevel angle on whatever hone you use after the bevel set.

If you actually want to create a micro bevel on a razor, then you wait until you reach the finishing hone, do whatever you normally would at that stage, and then add an additional layer of tape and do 10 or less strokes (depending on the hone used) using just the weight of the blade.

Good luck with your future Aust!

Thanks, what you say makes perfect sense. Especially after watching Lynn's honing and refreshing tips last night. I was geting a headache wrapping my head around the idea of how few strokes to rehone a blade when it's not taking an edge anymore. But then again I've gravitated to D2 tool steel and above for knifes. There's just something about being able to beat the crap out of a knife an keep on using it. But don't let it happen go to far or your gonna break your arm re sharpening em.

Originally Posted by mdeamicis

I might be off base but......... I don't think you can predict the past......

You are correct. You can not predict, forecast, or prognosticate the past, only the future.
You can only postdict, postcast, and calculate the past.

And none of this can be done except in the present.

It reminds me of a joke- the past, present, and future all got together. It was pretty tense.