KJ-45 Knife Jig - Damages Finish Of Knives

[BeSharp]

Ah, missed that.

[Thy Will Be Done]

So I've found what I believe to be what Vadim meant by 'cloth tape', while there are several types out there I believe what he means is something along the lines of 'gaffers tape'.  Basically similar to duct tape but much more useful for most all uses.  Gaffers tape has good abrasive resistance (check) and is designed to hold firmly and resist water (check), while removing cleanly without adhesive residue left on the blade or objects (check).  I ordered some of the following tape from ProTapes @ BHPhoto.com, should be here tomorrow and I'm going to give it a try.

https://www.protapes.com/products/pro-spike

[Ken S]

I recall a reference Vadim made to his choice of tape. I do not remember the specific tape, only that it was a medical tape and manufactured in the UK. (In younger days, Vadim was a Medical Doctor.). Gaffer's tape is great stuff, and may actually work better. I have a roll of gaffer's tape I purchased more than ten years ago. It has many uses and works very well, much better than duct tape in many cases.

Incidentally, a gaffer is the person who sets up the lights on movie sets.

Please keep us posted as to how well your gaffer tape works.

Ken

[Thy Will Be Done]

I had come across a good bit of medical tape also when searching cloth tape, I was wondering if it could have been because most medical tape is white.  I do think the gaffers tape will work quite well, I bought the 1/2" width which I feel will be easiest to work with to not have to make as many tears to resize fitting at the ricasso for protection.   Also 1/2" on either side of the blade where the KJ-45 clamps should be enough to prevent the friction damage I've noted.

I am hesitant to try putting the tape on the gripping surfaces of the KJ-45, however,  My fear is that removal may be tricky if it doesn't work well and don't want to put excess force on the jig.  I do have a use case where I cannot tape the blade with certain powder coat finishes that have a sort of spray on camo layer above the coating.  I've seen people tape these blades and have the top camo layer come off.

[Ken S]

Maybe using tape (with adhesive) is not the right solution. How about plain paper folded to cover both sides of your blade? Following the online class on the KJ-45, the blade clamping can be adjusted to fit the taper of the blade, thus spreading the clamping pressure over the entire area of the jig clamp. I wouldn't think these "shelf princess" knives would get heavy use or need much sharpening. Light clamping pressure should be sufficient. No adhesive should be necessary.

Ken

[Thy Will Be Done]

I tried this over the weekend and the tape did protect the blade, despite getting soaked pretty good.  My only slight concern was that I had a bit of trouble making sure the blade was aligned just right in the KJ-45, it was hard to get even light on both sides of the blade between the jig clamp.  I may try some paper as you mention but once it gets wet I suspect it won't do much... possibly some plastic wrap would be better in this way or wax paper.

[RickKrung]

I've been using Rite In The Rain waterproof paper for a number of years (decades actually), initially in the form of bound field notebooks, but more recently for Tormek sharpening accessories.  I first got it for this latter use because regular copy paper would get ruined when it got wet.  This was when I worked a couple of farmers markets (2018) and had signs and price sheets printed up and on the table near my T8, so they continually got soaked.  I now really only use it for a reference card that has the shim data that I use for my modified SVM- jigs, for centering blades (ala Knife Grinders).  It has come in handy, for example when my granddaughter needed paper for a project that would get wet. 

This paper holds up beautifully when wet and can even be written on (field notebooks) if needed, which has not been an issue related to sharpening.  Laser printing on it has held up to being saturated, but I don't know how inkjet printing would.  Perhaps a bit spendy but it would be a workable solution for using paper as protection for blades in the jigs. 

Rick

[Thy Will Be Done]

I appreciate the tip on the write in the rain paper, I'll keep that in mind.  I've also purchased a roll of 3M 5903 Stucco Masking Tape which has a polyethylene backing on synthetic rubber adhesive.  It's claimed to remove cleanly for 30 days, not be affected by water and also be resistant to light abrasion.  This tape is much different than the Gaffers tape and I had originally decided I would return it to Amazon but I'm thinking now it may work better.  It seems both smoother and possibly thinner, both which may help with aligning the clamp of the jig properly.