Thread: Taping the spine

I hear people talking about taping the spine of their razors when they hone. I was curious if this is common practice. I was under the impression that the spine was designed to loose material with honing so the the angle of the blade would always be perfect. Wouldn't taping the spine prevent that from happening?

There are merits to both.

I tape the spine of other's razors to avoid honewear. Sometimes you tape the spine to keep etching or wash. Some people tape the spine because they like how it feels. Some people do not tape the spine because they like how it feels.

FWIW, if you use 3M 700, or the even thinner 3M Super 33, the degree of change with one layer of tape is about .3 degrees. Meaning that if you want to maintain between 16-18 degress as a cutting bevel, and without tape your razor is a 17 degree edge....with one layer it's 17.3 degrees.

It's whatever you want to do....tape or no tape....you decide.

Taping the spine will prevent that from happening, but it will take many, many honings for any real difference to be seen. I always use three layers and have never had a problem. I've gone as far as five layers, still with no issues.

I am from the camp that tries not to tape the spine. I will:

1. tape the spine sometimes if there is significant hone wear and I want to “try” and expose fresh steel Or,
2. if the spine is ornate or custom.

I try to get the maximum out of a “quality steel” edge. I prefer to hone the blade as the OEM had intended... IMHO
MIke

As you see , some do it, some don't and some use it depending on the razor to be honed. I tape always, as I prefer the feel with a taped spine on the hones and to avoid confusion to which of my straights that are honed with tape or not.
There are no downsides really, not using tape will not give you a better edge, or vice versa.

Over time, of course, a taped razor will lose its original geometry. But if you are careful to hone only as much as is needed, and no more, this will take many, many, many years, as stated above. And even if it does, there are many degrees of "unoriginality" than can be endured by a razor and still produce a good edge.

On a really technical note, at the microscopic level a taped razor's bevel would be made up of very slight angle variations all along the edge, I think, due to the elastic nature of the plastic tape, as compared to a non-taped spine. Very slight so as not to make any difference whatsoever in a practical sense, but I reckon it would be a very cool experiment, if it were possible, to investigate if this indeed happens to taped razors.

James.

Originally Posted by MODINE

I am from the camp that tries not to tape the spine. I will:

1. tape the spine sometimes if there is significant hone wear and I want to “try” and expose fresh steel Or,
2. if the spine is ornate or custom.

I try to get the maximum out of a “quality steel” edge. I prefer to hone the blade as the OEM had intended... IMHO
MIke

+1 for me, except that my name's not Mike.

I honed my first blade without tape. When I saw what 1K could do to a spine's appearance, I went out and bought some tape. I've never looked back. My edges are sharp, and my spines, well, not mine, the blades, are pretty.