What's up with Polishing Tape?

R

RustyIron

Joined
Dec 4, 2019
Messages
269
Last week I placed an order for some knife stuff, and if I spent only a few dollars more, I'd get free shipping. So I tacked on a blank and some 6k tapes. Last night I experimented with them for a while. I took the edge to 5k and then finished it with the 6k tape. The result was an edge that was very nice and what I'd expect. But clearly, tape is more difficult to work with and more expensive.

So my question is, if I have a collection of stones that will achieve the edges I'm looking for, is there any reason that I'd use tape? What's the benefit?
 
Lapping film is some of the most tightly graded product available, and it is highly consistent. The mylar backing provides just a hint of cushion. These make them excellent for polishing while still preserving very crisp angles. Grit cross-contamination is less of a problem than with diamond compound and many stones. They don't change thickness like stones do; you never need to flatten them.
 
By the way lapping film is slurry coated so there is a tiny bit of depth to the abrasive, so if the film stops cutting try cleaning it. I like to use a piece of a 10K water stone I accidentally broke, other people use alcohol I think. When the film is worn out (cleaning makes it slicker, or a different color layer shows through) you can still use it to hold diamond paste.
 
RustyIron said:
Last week I placed an order for some knife stuff, and if I spent only a few dollars more, I'd get free shipping. So I tacked on a blank and some 6k tapes. Last night I experimented with them for a while. I took the edge to 5k and then finished it with the 6k tape. The result was an edge that was very nice and what I'd expect. But clearly, tape is more difficult to work with and more expensive.

So my question is, if I have a collection of stones that will achieve the edges I'm looking for, is there any reason that I'd use tape? What's the benefit?
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They work very well for polishing out the last scratches but don't last very long, as in the EP 6k tape is good for maybe 3 knives, maybe. I found them fun to play with but once the newness factor wore off I moved on.
 
Tapes can also be used with various shapes/profiles of backing substrate. So, you could make custom-shaped 'hones' for specific sizes of serrations or recurves, used on V-edged blocks, round rods, dowels or sections of pipe of varying diameter, for example. PSA sandpaper can also be used the same way.
 
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