Originally Posted by
NigelW
Thanks - I am now starting to see the point. A heavy taping of the spine increases the hone angle sufficiently to create a secondary bevel (like on a plane blade). This of course makes the cutting edge of the razor less acute and every time you hone in future you will have to reproduce the same level of taping. I can see that this will result in less hone area on both the spine and the edge than if the razor is honed without taping. This will be visually more pleasing perhaps, and with less area to hone the honing will be quicker. I may try this when I restore my other old Sheffield razor.
Although I haven't practiced engineering for over 30 years, there is something about this taping that doesn't feel right to me. The hollow ground razor is a simple yet highly effective design. The hollow grind allows the razor to be honed flat, guaranteeing a consistent and accurate blade angle every time without the need for any fuss or additional equipment - in fact I have been using the hollow grind technique for many years on my plane blades and some of my finer chisels (James Krenov in his highly influential books on cabinetmaking recommends this approach). As the razor gets used the hone areas increase, but that is just an inevitable consequence of honest use in the way it was designed to be used. If the wear gets really heavy, then it's time to regrind or buy a new one.
In the end I think it comes down to aesthetics and everyone has their own taste. Visual aesthetics may point to taping, but the aesthetics of function (for me at least) point to using the tool in the beautiful, elegant way in which it was designed to be used.