Thread: Black tape residue on my hones

I have experienced the same thing. A better quality tape helps but I still see a mix of tape and steel swarf. No big deal, just rinse off the hone once in awhile while honing. Yes, it happens more at the coarser grits and I do change tape usually after the 1K & 4K hones.

And ,NO!, I will not use different colors! Good grief, so when I use 3 layers of tape I should use Red, White & Blue!????

Thanks for the humor,

Originally Posted by NaeFairtex

I am not able to hold the edge flat on the stone with one hand yet so I use my index finger on the toe during the passes.

Do you remember learning how to ride a bike? Keeping upright was a terribly challenging constantly overcorrecting frustrating challenge. Eventually, you got better at it and you could ride a bike without any difficulty or even conscious that at all. This was because your brain had to re-wire (literally) in order to easily perform this task. Learning to hone well involves the exact same neurological process.

Don't use your index finger. That is the equivalent of training wheels. You will never re-wire your brain to hone properly with that index finger on the blade. Take the index finger off and practice keeping the blade flat. In a short time you will be able to keep the blade flat with no thought at all.

Use Scotch Super 33+ plus

Originally Posted by randydance062449

I have experienced the same thing. A better quality tape helps but I still see a mix of tape and steel swarf. No big deal, just rinse off the hone once in awhile while honing. Yes, it happens more at the coarser grits and I do change tape usually after the 1K & 4K hones.

And ,NO!, I will not use different colors! Good grief, so when I use 3 layers of tape I should use Red, White & Blue!????

Thanks for the humor,

No, No, No! Never mix colors. That is completely violating the point of the color coding. Black is for bevel setting. Brown is for sharpening. Red is for polishing. Violate these color designations at your own peril!

On a serious note, when I tape the spine, I am diligent about replacing it prior to moving up in grit. Tape wears away much faster than the steel on a spine and when it wears away, the angle is reduced and that causes the bevel to widen and the hone to fail to contact the very edge. For that reason, call me OCD (but at least I don't lap my hones in the shower) but I replace the tape between every lower grit transition below 8k.

When I finish setting the bevel on a 1k with tape, I put on a fresh layer of BLACK tape and do ten more strokes. Then I move to the 2k and hone away. Then I put on a fresh layer of BROWN tape and do ten more strokes on the 2k and then move on to the 3k. When I'm done with the 3k I put on a fresh layer of tape and do ten more strokes on the 3k and then move on to the 5k. When I'm done with the 5k I put on a fresh layer of brown tape and do ten more strokes on the 5k and then move on to the 8k. I do ten strokes on the 8k and then put on a layer of red tape. I do 5-10 more strokes on the 8k, do 10 strokes on the 10k, and do 10 strokes on the 12k. Then I replace the red tape with a new piece of red tape and do whatever number of strokes I feel to be necessary on my polishing stone, which is most often a Nakayama Asagi. Generally I do 20 to 30 strokes on the Asagi.

Why do I do this ridiculous progression? Because even with an extremely light touch the tape quickly wears away and that reduces the angle of the bevel which effectively prevents the hone from reaching the very edge of the blade where all the fun should occur. By putting a fresh layer of tape on the spine and doing a few more strokes before moving to a finer hone, I'm ensuring that the very edge is being reached.