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What's Wrong With Excessive Spine Wear?

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
what if you had like a 500 or 1000 $$ razor, would that be worth the effort to tape it?

"I would never buy a SR that is "shave ready" without hone wear." < i don't quite understand can explain this like im 5 years old. thank you

So you tape the spine to prevent wear to the spine of a hollowground razor. Okay. Now the edge wears away and the blade slowly slowly gets narrower. But the spine doesn't wear, so even though it gets narrower, it does not get thinner. What happens to the bevel angle? Plus, what is the razor... art? Jewelry? or maybe a tool. What is more important, cosmetics or function? It is your choice and if for some reason you want your razor to always look like it has never been used, then use tape. It is simple. Cut tape. Apply to spine. Hone. It is no trouble, if it does what you want. It depends on your priorities. To me, a razor is a tool and nothing should interfere with proper function. I don't really care if it looks like it has been used. It is a tool. Sometimes tape is useful for correcting a bevel angle that is too acute. If the bevel angle is too acute then I hone with tape. I would never use tape without checking the bevel angle and determining whether or not it is necessary. You should feel free to use or not use tape, on your razor, as you see fit.
 
So you tape the spine to prevent wear to the spine of a hollowground razor. Okay. Now the edge wears away and the blade slowly slowly gets narrower. But the spine doesn't wear, so even though it gets narrower, it does not get thinner. What happens to the bevel angle? Plus, what is the razor... art? Jewelry? or maybe a tool. What is more important, cosmetics or function? It is your choice and if for some reason you want your razor to always look like it has never been used, then use tape. It is simple. Cut tape. Apply to spine. Hone. It is no trouble, if it does what you want. It depends on your priorities. To me, a razor is a tool and nothing should interfere with proper function. I don't really care if it looks like it has been used. It is a tool. Sometimes tape is useful for correcting a bevel angle that is too acute. If the bevel angle is too acute then I hone with tape. I would never use tape without checking the bevel angle and determining whether or not it is necessary. You should feel free to use or not use tape, on your razor, as you see fit.
got it, so using tape can slowly make the razor into a leather opener. also i mostly agree with the tool aspect of it. as much as i enjoy a piece of art, in order to call a razor art, it needs to not only function as a razor but function well.
 
Yes, but that means you must ALWAYS apply the SAME tape each and every time that you hone or strop. For me that is not worth the effort.

Using tape also increases the included bevel angle. Sometimes that is needed if the blade's spine is so thin than the included bevel angle is just too accute.

I would never buy a SR that is "shave ready" without hone wear.


It is not necessary to use tape when stropping. Unlike the hard surface of a hone, a strop uses compressible materials like leather, wood, or cloth that will easily deform sufficiently to accommodate the minor change to the bevel angle resulting from use of tape during the honing process.

That said, I do not like using tape when I hone, but many others do. Many of the honemeisters who hone for hire use tape to avoid complaints from clients who do not want spine wear.
 
what if you had like a 500 or 1000 $$ razor, would that be worth the effort to tape it?

"I would never buy a SR that is "shave ready" without hone wear." < i don't quite understand can explain this like im 5 years old. thank you
Not a $1000 razors/art piece, but close enough. This is a once-off RWL34 stainless steel razor with ivory scales and carbon fibre liners. The maker honed an edge using tape, I rehoned it without...
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I don't care about using tape or not. However I do understand taping the spine of a nice razor so that it stays looking aesthetically pleasing. Let's be honest here, anyone who has a nice 200$+ razor probably has a few others as well. I doubt anyone is using that razor so much that the angle becomes an issue because they put tape on the spine.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Why is it aesthetically pleasing for the razor to look like it is not used? I don't get it. It is a tool. Tools show signs of being used. What is wrong with that? Anyway, I don't particularly care to have people inspecting my personal shave equipment. I find no big fun in displaying my razors. Or my toothbrushes. Or nail clippers. Whatever. OMG that Panasonic double acting electric toothbrush is almost MINT! Wow, BEAUTIFUL! LOL I love a great razor that shaves well, hones easily, and even looks good, but looking good is pretty small potatoes in the big picture, and I just don't see why evidence of normal use and wear makes it no longer pleasant to look at, anyway. It is a tool. I have saws that cost more than some of my razors. They all have scratches on them, and rub marks and stuff. What a tragedy! Right? LOL.

As for the very small amount of harm done to a razor by honing with tape for a year or 10 years or whatever, why is a small amount okay? I don't get it. That razor should be good to go for the next 100 years. I don't see any point in deliberately degrading the bevel angle, even slightly or slowly. Bad enough if damage is done through neglect. Worse if it is done on purpose. But some people stubbornly cling to the tape and its their razors after all.
 
There have been lots of debates in the tape vs no tape practice. I remember members of our community even surveying for measurements of razors and measuring bevel angles over time.

If I recall correctly, effect was deemed by the more experienced guys (at that instance), to be minimal - which was a surprise when we probably all overthink the details, such as mm of steel and degrees of bevel angle.

Some resultant advice was to not stress too much about the bevel when discussing tape vs no tape. Follow your preference.
 
Why is it aesthetically pleasing for the razor to look like it is not used? I don't get it. It is a tool. Tools show signs of being used. What is wrong with that? Anyway, I don't particularly care to have people inspecting my personal shave equipment. I find no big fun in displaying my razors. Or my toothbrushes. Or nail clippers. Whatever. OMG that Panasonic double acting electric toothbrush is almost MINT! Wow, BEAUTIFUL! LOL I love a great razor that shaves well, hones easily, and even looks good, but looking good is pretty small potatoes in the big picture, and I just don't see why evidence of normal use and wear makes it no longer pleasant to look at, anyway. It is a tool. I have saws that cost more than some of my razors. They all have scratches on them, and rub marks and stuff. What a tragedy! Right? LOL.

As for the very small amount of harm done to a razor by honing with tape for a year or 10 years or whatever, why is a small amount okay? I don't get it. That razor should be good to go for the next 100 years. I don't see any point in deliberately degrading the bevel angle, even slightly or slowly. Bad enough if damage is done through neglect. Worse if it is done on purpose. But some people stubbornly cling to the tape and its their razors after all.

Eh it is a hobby and people like what they like. Just do what makes you happy. Some people have nice cars that just sit in garages, other people tape the spines of their nice razors
 
Yep, the key word here is EXCESSIVE - More than normal.
Normal hone wear is not an issue. When there is a full blade left and a full 1/8 of wear on the spine....
More than normal means there was either an underlying issue or heavy handed honing which will lead to thin, weak edges.
Personally, if a razor has excessive wear I will ignore it. If its normal wear than I will consider it.
 
got it, so using tape can slowly make the razor into a leather opener. also i mostly agree with the tool aspect of it. as much as i enjoy a piece of art, in order to call a razor art, it needs to not only function as a razor but function well.
Too slowly for you to ever worry about with normal use. A razor maker explains it in the last post here pretty well.

 
I have bought 2 japanese razor 1 HKR and 1 Feon 6800. One was "shave ready" and one looked NOS. I was exciting to get them. Upon receiving them I noticed the geometry was off. The back 1/3 towards the toe on both razor didnt touch the stone on one side. Instead of doing rolling x stroke and hand gymnastics I corrected the geometry. Now the spine wear is pretty uneven. Now I look at spine wear differently. Some NOS razor scare me especially for the prices being asked.
 
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