Thread: Taping the spine

Originally Posted by gssixgun

OK now this I thought of doing, but, I talked myself out of it because 1) it was going way to well to screw things up at the time, and 2) wouldn't this create a doulbe or step bevel like Tim Zowarda was talking about????
That would require even more work when re-honing the same razor....

Glenn,

I think Tim Z was referring to using high-grit hones at the very end of the honing progression to create the double bevel. If you switch angles on the lower grits, the hone completely wipes out any double beveling.

Josh

OK let me see if I have this right, You guys are saying if I were to re-hone this wedge 6-8 years from now (I don't use wedges I will try this one, just because) I could actually hone without tape and the bevel will re-establish to the right angle without much trouble?????
Or did I miss something???? Hmmmmm seems logical because thats basically what I did in reverse to get an edge!!!! I just have never needed to tape an edge until this one....

Originally Posted by gssixgun

OK let me see if I have this right, You guys are saying if I were to re-hone this wedge 6-8 years from now (I don't use wedges I will try this one, just because) I could actually hone without tape and the bevel will re-establish to the right angle without much trouble?????
Or did I miss something???? Hmmmmm seems logical because thats basically what I did in reverse to get an edge!!!! I just have never needed to tape an edge until this one....

No it will not re-establish itself without much trouble, it will take a lot of work on the Norton 1K, Norton 4K or DMT-E (as in at least several hundred passes) to get the edge back to the angle without tape; I have done a lot of experiements on this exact subject. If you try to hone it without tape now your hone will not touch and therefore will not sharpen the shaving edge of the bevel, it will touch and polish the base of the bevel which is useless. You can color the edge with a permanent marker and then hone it until it disapears completely all the way to the shaving edge to know when you have removed the double bevel, which will take a long time and a fair amount of metal. It is a lot easier to go the other way as you did (add the tape later) because you are just creating a sharper micro-bevel at the edge at a steeper angle (the tape). The reason that it will take so much longer to go in reverse is because there is a lot more metal at the base of the bevel to remove than there is toward the front shaving edge of the bevel which must be removed to re-establish the angle. For a nice wedge, I would recommend that you leave the tape on.

I will ask the corollary to the tape question. When one doesn't use tape and has to take a significant portion of the spine down to re/establish a proper bevel as the result of blade chips or buying a cheapo razor
what
is a the easiest way to clean up the spine?

- Bob

Originally Posted by RobertFontaine

I will ask the corollary to the tape question. When one doesn't use tape and has to take a significant portion of the spine down to re/establish a proper bevel as the result of blade chips or buying a cheapo razor
what
is a the easiest way to clean up the spine?

- Bob

Sandpaper or flap wheels, then buffing.

If the hone wear is really significant, the only thing that'll help is
a) a regrind
b) Lots of low grit sandpaper, and lots of elbow grease.

I've found that flapwheels only work if the honewear is light. ymmv.

i have 2 blades, 1 a john barber, and the other an old sheffield. both wedges, or what i would call an overwedge. i will see about taking a couple of pics. on both of them, if i have the spine on the hone, the edge will not even come close to touching. because i am new at honing, i do not feel comforatable trying to hold an angle by hand. after 3 layers of electrical tape, i was finally able to get contact at both points and somewhat of an edge. i still need to work on them, but they are beasts. even with the old W&B i have, there is enough of a hollow to work with. but not on these 2.

vgod