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 .