Thread: Another "When is it worn out" question

Originally Posted by Nightblade

If I amy throw a wrench into this discussion. I have been curious. Tape is used for honing today. But before tape it was honing with bare steel I assume? Given that and given the fact that many of those old razors which lived full lives and are again being used today are still functioning beautifully in a lot of cases I might add. Well,...what I am trying to get at is. Just how damaging is it really to hone without tape. Since your using light pressure,how long in terms of months or years would one imagine it would take before the razor was un honeable ?? I say this because I hone without tape. Is this more of a purist thing or will my razor be unuseable in a few years ? I have often been perplexed by this whole tape thing which is why I ask ?

Simply put, "It ain't that simple"

Keep in mind that many of the older Sheffields have a softer spine than the edge (Tested, go find it on SRP) so you added another wrinkle to the whole issue..
Add in just plain "Bad Honing" and take into account that all spines are just NOT perfectly even from the factory, and that grinds can be a bit off too, and you have a recipe for what we see all the time on e-bay etc:

The great statement people toss out of, the spine and edge wear the same, should be prefaced with "In a perfect world"

Here is some math plus hands on experiments about the entire Taping thing to peruse


http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...-theories.html


ps: The angle as tested on multiple razors by multiple users right here on SRP came out to be 16°, there was an old article that ONE brand of razor posted that they targeted 17° and somehow people took that to be truth not realizing that only one maker stated that...
One recent maker started life with their razors at 13° - 14° and found that they had issues with the edge crumbling and chipping.. Another, some years back had razors in the 22° plus range and people bragged about his edges.. Some of this comes down to the steel also, see like I said it isn't so simple..


Conclusion after testing, measuring, reading, and posting, about this for years now... Tape if ya want,, don't tape if ya want, it is after all your razor


As to the OP

Spent is when the razor can no longer function in it's capacity as a shaver...

You and I both have seen some pretty "Worn to Nuttin" razors out there that were obviously shaving until the day they went in the back of the drawer.. It basically comes down to what each individual decides is the point that the razor no longer functions...

Take an Extreme Hollow Grind, they honestly only have 1/8 of an inch (some even less) of edge before you are into the "Belly of the Blade" now you could continue to hone and shave that blade for many years after that, but as you get deeper into the steel you are getting a stiffer and stiffer edge For me since I like Extreme Hollows, once that happened, IMHO the razor no longer functions as a shaver... BTW read the above link to get an idea of how long that would actually take with PROPER honing...