Barry;

Something we all have to deal with. Care and duct tape. Myself; my blades are not 100% finished until the handle is 95% done. Then touch up the blade and glue up.

M

Thanks Mike! Maybe I'll give duct tape a try on the next one.

I use blue painter's tape to protect my blades. I like the painter's tape because the adhesive is easy to clean off the blade.

As Mike said, care, but also cleanliness. The blade has to be sanitary before covering it in tape. Any grit under the tape will definitely scratch the blade. The tape job needs to be airtight too. If you do much grinding on the fittings and handle, the grit will get through any openings in the tape.

Tape here also. Masking tape/ painters tape in layers. Like Steve said make sure the blade is clean before taping it up and careful about grinding grit. I also do the same as Mike, get everything fitted up and pretty much shaped before final glue up. A lot less to worry about.

Brion

I use masking tape too. I usually put a wrap of paper towel on first and then wrap over it with masking tape. I leave just a little pit of blade exposed for the tape to stick to. Less glue to clean off that way.

Dale

" If you do much grinding on the fittings and handle, the grit will get through any openings in the tape. "

Steve, I think this might be an issue. I do quite a bit of grinding and sanding on the handle. I don't think my tape is on air tight. And I realize most of you are making hidden tang knives so getting the handle shaped really close to final size before glue up isn't much of a problem. I am making full tang knives and haven't found a reliable way to profile the scales to match the blade exactly before glue up and have them match perfectly after glue it set. So it get them within an 1/16" to 1/8" before glue up. Then grind and sand to final shape. So there is a good bit of handling the knife while this is going on and somewhere along the way the scratchs make their way to the blade.

Think I will carefully wrap the next one with blue tape then again with duct tape over that. Two layers have to be better than one!

A tape someone put me onto is that green Frogtape. You can get it at Walmart over by the paint supplies. Nice thing about it is it doesn't leave adhesive residue like others can-comes in various widths, too.

Jeremy

Also make sure your tape is clean. If is is just laying on the bench, or shelf, it is guaranteed that some micro blade scratcher is stuck to the edge of it. Keep your tape in a baggie, and inspect it carefully before using it.

Scott here,

It is very humid where I live and the blade can sweat at times. I oil mine lightly, wrap them in a paper towel and then wrap them tightly with electrical tape. The paper towel cushions the blade and helps protect it and the electrical tape is tough and stretchy and allows me to see the profile of the blade for balance and sight down it for straightness. It cleans up easily also.

At the risk of sounding like an echo...

I use the blue painter's tape too. I've experimented around a little bit--I found masking tape to be just a little too flimsy (thin) to feel like it was really protecting the the surface without at least six layers. I found the adhesive on duct tape to be a little bit too tenacious. I've also had some difficulty finding "normal" duct tape. You know, the stuff we all grew up with. Now there are all kinds of tapes out there that look like duct tape (and are called "duct tape") but have weird adhesives or flimsy weaves, etc. Blue painter's tape works the best for me.

Here's my technique:

I use the 2" wide stuff so that I can cover the entire blade with a single piece of tape. I used to use the 1" stuff and wrap a blade mummy-style, but I found that when I left a blade taped like that for any length of time, I would occasionally find corrosion at the overlap seams. With the 2" stuff, there's no seam. So I cover the entire blade with each piece. I also tend to trim off all the extra tape with an exacto blade. I'll usually put three layers on each side--that seems to provide a nice protective cushion. If I intend to be rougher than usual with the project after this, THEN I'll mummify it, either with more blue tape or--if I'm really gonna man-handle the thing--the thickest duct tape I can find.

Now, when I go to secure the blade in a vise, I take a disposable shop towel (paper towel), fold it in thirds, and wrap that around the blade where it will be gripped. Then I use two flat pieces of wood (left-over ends from handle scales) and clamp the blade between those.

I haven't had a single scratch or scuff since I started doing things that way.

Zack

I've had some bad luck applying tape directly to finished blades.. I've had pretty good luck wrapping my blades in blue shop towels and then putting tape over that.. Creates a sheath basically and allows me to remove the blade when necessary to check fit/alignment etc..