tapering tangs

Steve, when you taper the tangs on your platen, do you use the graphite tape on your platen or just leave the platen as is?. Actually is it a good thing to use the graphite tape at all?. Please enlighthen me on this. I have read pros and cons on this subject . T.I.A.
Roland

I don't use it on my tang tapering platen. I tried it at first when I got the machine and didn't like the "flatness" of the tang when finished. I just leave it bare. I do go to the disk sander after the platen, so maybe it's not a really big deal.

Now....that was 20 yrs ago, or so, so the graphite tape might be a different animal than the one I used back then. Just try both and see which you like best.

Make sure you use butt-joint belts, as the overlap type are quite bumpy on a platen.

There is a good discussion on tang tapering on this forum somewhere, it might be worth your time to lookit up.

Roland,

I've found one good use for the graphite material. When finishing up handles on the platen, I use the graphite under the belt starting at 220 grit. It allows me to go to a much higher grit prior to hand finishing. Other than that, I haven't found much use for it.

Brett