To tape or not to tape when honing, what are your thoughts, how many tape or no tape?

[pundi64]

When honing, one top hone master tapes spine, while on the other hand another top honer advises against it.
How many honing specialists in here recommend taping always, and how many are against it.

If you buy a razor that they have used tape on the spine when honing, then when you do a touch up you have to tape right, because of bevel angle right?
Then if they haven't used tape you have to do your touch up, with out.
What the Hell is the real truth here, I really get tired of some honers saying yes, and others oh no, do not ever tape.

So please get involved here, I think it might also interest a lot of other people also.

 

[stoop]

I don't. Others do. So it goes.

 

[pundi64]

I don't. Others do. So it goes.

ok but if they do you have to use when touching razor up right? Or visa versa-

 

[stoop]

It is trivial to convert back and forth but it implies resetting the bevel, yeah.

 

[Mango]

It is trivial to convert back and forth but it implies resetting the bevel, yeah.

+ 1

I do it to protect the spines or when a razor has slight geometry issues.

 

[scag315]

I'll use tape if I'm honing something for someone else simply because people see a little bit of wear on the spine and immediately think it's ruined or has heavy hone wear which is ridiculous.

For mine i use tape with wedges and blades with bad geometry issues but other than that I don't bother.

 

[global_dev]

if honed on tape, a touch up requires tape.

if not honed on tape, a touch uo can do either.

in my experience, ive found ive enjoyed taping more than not. on occasion I'll hone without. I'll always take geometry and grind into account though.

 

[Jnatcat]

I hone on tape if the spine is worked or has some type of gold wash but if not no tape.

 

[bluesman 7]

Tape is a tool that can be used to increase the bevel angle and protect the spine. For my own razors I prefer acute bevel angles and only use tape where not using it would yield angles under 15 degrees. If I'm honing for others, especially people new to straight shaving, I'm more likely to use tape as I feel that larger bevel angles are more forgiving and also more robust at keeping an edge if they are used with poor technique (high shaving angle).

 

[global_dev]

the more i read the Original Post (and watch honing vids), the more i think its important to keep an open mind and realize every razor and honer needs to find their own peace with honing.

 

[buca3152]

Based on previous threads, we have found the conclusion to be inconclusive! Decorative spine warrants it and some other issues as mentioned. I don't but one piece of tape amounts to nothing.

 

[Acmemfg]

Tape...too much like work. Only one of my razors has any decorative work on the spine and it doesn't seem to have been affected by honing.
I surely have no quarrel with guys who are in favor of the tape routine. To me the razor will always be primarily a grooming instrument, not artifact. Some hone wear is really not a huge problem. Rust or staining?? Now that I HATE!!!

 

[Jnatcat]

I stand corrected on my honing with/without, I just honed a couple razors for a member here and the spines were regular (no gold wash, decorated etc..) but they are family heirlooms that belonged to his Grandad I believe so I used 1 layer of super 88 to prevent additional wear.

 

[BobLH]

It is the user's preference, either way will work in normal circumstances. I prefer using a single layer of tape while honing on all my razors. I could just as easily not use any. It is either all taped or all not taped for ease of maintenance for me. The only exception being on razors that need more than 1 layer of tape to bring the bevel angle into acceptable range because of a too narrow of a spine. With stropping it is a none issue.

Bob

 

[denvernoob]

I am by no means a honemeister by any stretch of the imagination, but here are my thoughts. I use tape, usually one layer, on just about everything I own at this point. Here is my "why?"

Simply stated, it makes life a little easier on me. I don't have too many razors with excessive hone wear or otherwise that generally "require" tape in the technical sense. I use thin tape to try to minimize the overall impact on bevel angle....but here is the thing. Going between several processes and feels for me is more of a detriment to my edges than using one process throughout. I get a new (to me) razor, could have come from any one of 100 different people especially if won on an auction...so I tape 1 layer, reset, and go through the progression. At that point, the razor is now just like every other razor in my collection. I made the edge, I can make it again using the same method, and I don't need to keep a detailed log as to what happened with what razor and when (with a couple of exceptions, like my Portland Razor, and my Koraat). In other words, I normalize my collection up front so subsequent honings are basically the same.

Now here is the other thing....while I am still building my collection, the vast majority of my razors are NOS and vintage (or close to it). To resell them, hone wear is a serious minus to collectors. I couldn't care less on my modern production razors like my Bismarck, but I want to maintain the value of my collection over time and this is a very easy way to do so. So having said that, based on rule number 1 above, I just tape everything because it is easier to get better without changing factors in the hone over and over.

 

[totorlekiller]

I always do.
A lot of the razors I hone start in pretty poor shape, so getting a clean bevel takes a lot of work on a DMT 300. Without tape, that would put a lot of wear on the razor.
Even on cleaner one, I figure it is better to minimize the hone wear.
Occasionally, I have been in situation where 1 layer is not enough. Mostly in the cases of wedge or near wedge. Even 2 is sometimes not enough. When this is the case, the situation is soon obvious: as you start to hone, you see the bevel take an irregular width with place narrow and places wides along the blade.

 

[Brianskeet]

I will try to answer why I tape without rambling to much. The most obvious reason is hone wear, but it is a bit deeper than that. I have a fairly small collection of razors, but it includes three Tim Zowada customs two of which are damascus, Three Hart Steel razors one of which is damascus and a couple big wedge or near wedge Wade and Butchers. Hart recommends tape as does Tim and wedges are well known to like a layer of tape. Then I have four ivory scaled restored beauties that were done by Joe Edson and he sent them with their initial edges done on tape as well. When you add to this my dislike of the look of hone wear and the fact that I am at this point far more experienced at honing with tape and it becomes more obvious why I tend to tape everything. With that said, I totally understand the reasons to not tape! Maintaining the angle on a tool that can measure its lifespan in hundreds of years is perfectly logical. Now we get to the selfish part. I am over 50 so I am going to spread 30 years or so of hone wear over a collection of razors. A very small angle change to be certain and if someone has to regrind one of my blades in a hundred years I am okay with that. In the meantime I get to use my razors with them all looking perfect.

 

[pundi64]

Thanks guys, for all you returns to my question, I really appreciate it.

Sounds like it is neither here nor there with one layer of tape, I believe also in saving the spine as much as possible.

 

[stoop]

Certainly no dishonor in wanting to keep the spine looking nice

 

[mglindo]

I use one layer of tape on my razors. It takes only a second so no big deal. Some of my razors have a decorated spine and one Kamisori styled razor by Joe Edson with Suminagashi steel. Just to be consistent, I tape. Like I said, it only takes a second anyway!


Mike