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Str8fencer opines the tape, being "softer" or "more flexible" is more resistant to hone wear than steel.

This doesn't make sense to me. How could a softer material be more resistant to abrasion...

Utopian and Glen:

Thanks so much. I think you are instinctually doing what my thought experiment tells me I should be doing.

I typically hone on tape until a) the steel shines through or b)...

I don't see that. If the spine (with tape) is wearing faster than the steel bevel, then the full bevel cannot be maintained (until/unless the tape is changed), or, as Glen and others suggest, the...

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....

Yes, when the tape is replaced it restores the geometry and refocuses the honing to the very edge of the bevel.

But, following that logic, doesn't this mean that for efficient honing, we should...

I understand about changing tape regularly, not honing on different grits, etc. My question isn't so much about practice, but theory. According to the logic in the OP, you'd have to change the tape...

O.K., this has been bothering me for some time...

When a spine is taped, the hone encounters two very different surfaces -- the steel on the bevel, and the tape on the spine.

The abrasion...