AWESOME COOL ! You gotta keep an open mind with 8's, and be willing to
experiment.

Some guys are such collector purists that they get tunnel vision and
will only use what came in the tape to begin with- my logic is, that
original stuff failed quite often- so feel free to adapt it !

there is so much graphite on the back of those tapes, you could never
rub it all off with a home made pad. Think about it- if the graphite
is that loose- you're better off sweeping it off with the pad and
cleaning it, rather than letting it get stuck to the front of the play
side of the tape, and end up on the head and capstan.

Radio Shack actually made an 8-track tape cleaner, that did the same
thing a home made pad does.