Taping the spine yes or no

[daverojo77]

I notice the razors I get from Larry that the spines weren't taped when he honed them. So should I tape or not tape?
I'm getting ready to set bevel and hone a razor I got from ebay cheap (first sharpening)

 

[jeness]

Which one suits you the best. I tape everything, I don't like spinewear, but a lot of guys don't use tape. It is purely a cosmetical matter, nothing else.

 

[mainaman]

Does not matter for the outcome. In some cases taping actually help getting better result.
I usually use tape to avoid hone wear, but when needed I go without it.

 

[Obiwan]

See.....all this jnat vs. film vs. coti nonsense has made us lose our roots. This is the debate we should be having

Kidding aside, I only use tape on spine work razors or where blade requires it (e.g. Old worn wedges and the like). I used to tape everything, but I eventually got away from it and prefers the feel of the blade on the stone.

 

[Proinsias]

Taping can help to reduce hone wear when you are learning, on the other hand if you aren't overly attached to the razor I found hone wear on the spine quite a good way to see what was going on during the sharpening process.

These days I only tend to use tape if I'm struggling to get a decent edge or if I got to do some heavy work on a coarse stone, in the latter case by the time I'm back to 1K the tape has worn through and I proceed as normal. I quite like to see the polish on the bevel match the polish on the spine but as mentioned above it's not something to loose sleep over.

 

[global_dev]

I have mixed feelings on tape so if geometry is right, I don't use it

 

[Gamma]

I use tape when I have to.

 

[Wid]

I use tape when I have to.

Same here.

 

[jpcwon]

I use tape when I have to.

+1....I usually do not tape as honewear does not bother me too much (as long as it's even)...I actually use the honewear as a gauge to make sure I'm applying even pressure across the whole edge...

 

[smalltank]

I use tape through out the whole process..I tried a few times without it on my coti...didnt feel smooth..so I retaped it and felt fine..lol...

 

[noahpictures]

I use tape every time. I don't like hone wear.

 

[Danricgro]

I always use tape. I used to only use tape on a few razors but I'm not smart enough to keep track so when it came time for a touch up I couldn't remember which I used tape on. So I always use it, nothing to remember.

 

[Thomas Martin]

This is more than just a cosmetical issue. You may get a good edge easier with tape but you may get problems on the long run. If you do not remove steel from the spine at the same rate as from the edge the bevel angle will become more obtuse overtime and eventually you won't be able to get a sharp edge anymore.

 

[daverojo77]

Interesting...

 

[Relentless]

This is more than just a cosmetical issue. You may get a good edge easier with tape but you may get problems on the long run. If you do not remove steel from the spine at the same rate as from the edge the bevel angle will become more obtuse overtime and eventually you won't be able to get a sharp edge anymore.

Would this make taping the spine more than a cosmetic issue on a 7/8 or 8/8 razor? Would you not just end up with a foil edge without tape? I really have never thought about it before and was wondering if someone had first-hand experience.

 

[professorchaos]

I tape everything. It is easier than keeping track of what you honed with tape and what you didn't.

 

[raccoonandbrush]

I used to not us tape at all. Now, I use tape when setting the bevel with my Chosera 1K because I use a good amount of pressure at that stage, and would get a good amount of spine wear without using tape. After I finish setting the bevel, I don't use tape for honing on my natural stones.

 

[memnochlv]

Would this make taping the spine more than a cosmetic issue on a 7/8 or 8/8 razor? Would you not just end up with a foil edge without tape? I really have never thought about it before and was wondering if someone had first-hand experience.

I was wondering the same thing. Does this mean tape is really a bad idea in general? I know some will mention decorated spines (some are really quite beautiful), others will say the spines shouldn't be decorated, it just needs to shave, etc... All that aside though, is tape going to hurt things down the road? Is there anyone out there who tapes everything and has for years who can share if it's caused problems?

 

[global_dev]

I used to not us tape at all. Now, I use tape when setting the bevel with my Chosera 1K because I use a good amount of pressure at that stage, and would get a good amount of spine wear without using tape. After I finish setting the bevel, I don't use tape for honing on my natural stones.

absolutely a good idea to use tape here.. i see a good amount of unnecessary hone-wear. tape till you get a bevel or the sharpening/early polishing stage, since you won't be really shortening the razor width by much at all and then hone through the tape and you should be fine. i takes very few strokes without tape to wear away the appropriate bevel line and get you going without killing the spine IMHO. This is my ideal process right now if the geometry is good.

 

[global_dev]

Would this make taping the spine more than a cosmetic issue on a 7/8 or 8/8 razor? Would you not just end up with a foil edge without tape? I really have never thought about it before and was wondering if someone had first-hand experience.

if you take a look at jende's blog about the chosera 16K to 30K, you can see with some steels, it's not so much a foil edge in that case, it's a brittle-ness. IMHO foil would bend or break off over a larger area, but brittle steel will just chip.

there should be no real difference what the size 5/8s vs 8/8s as the angles are scalable. usually larger straights have a complementary larger spine.