A shoe for supporting an abrasive tape having an abrasive face and an
opposed back face, wherein the shoe comprises a support surface including
a frictional engagement material for frictionally engaging the back face
of the abrasive tape. The frictional engagement material comprises a
plurality of individual frictional engagement areas on a flexible
substrate, each frictional engagement area having a plurality of abrasive
particles. In an exemplary embodiment, the frictional engagement material
comprises diamond abrasive particles retained in a nickel matrix
supported on a flexible mesh substrate. The support surface of the shoe
may be curvilinear, arcuate, convex, or concave.