Home Improvment : A Good Tape Helps in Many Sticky Situations

Self-adhesive tapes come in a wide variety of types for a wide variety of uses. But if you only use them for their intended purposes, you will never realize their full potential.

Masking tape is a good example. It’s made to keep paint from getting where you don’t want it. But it’s also a great help when you want to make smooth cuts with your power saw. How so?

Just run a masking-tape strip centered over your line of cut whenever you are working with plywoods, paneling, or other materials that tend to chip and splinter. When you saw through the tape, you’ll be pleased to find that it binds wood fibers and prevents chipping. This works whether you are using a circular or saber saw.

The same technique works well when sawing plastics. The tape helps keep your saw base from making scratches and it also keeps the plastic sawdust from clogging the kerf.

Here’s some advice on the right and wrong way to remove masking tape. First, don’t leave the stuff in place too long, especially outdoors. If you do, it sticks tighter and may require paint thinner for removal. I generally leave the tape in place only until the paint I have applied next to it has set.

When you remove the tape, always peel it back over itself. If you take it off at a 90-degree angle, it may pull away the finish beneath it. On the other hand, you can take advantage of this annoying tendency to test the adhesion of house paint.

How? Clean a section of siding by rubbing it with an alcohol-dampened cloth. Let dry, then press a length of masking tape firmly against the siding. Pull it off straight out from the wall as shown in the sketch. If it pulls away any paint, you have adhesion problems and should probably remove the old paint down to bare wood and start over.

Duct tape is another sticky workhorse. Because it is so tough and sticky, you can use it for a whole slew of repair jobs. It will mend rips in tents, luggage and sails. I have a down jacket with a duct tape patch that has stayed in place over a three-corner tear for more than four years. I have even used duct tape to repair broken windows and to make emergency patches in a canoe.

As strong as duct tape is, however, it can’t match fiberglass-reinforced strapping tape. The stuff is meant mainly for packaging but because it’s so strong, you can often use it instead of rope to bind a load on the roof of your car, tie up tomato plants and even reinforce broken or flopping branches on small trees and shrubs.

It’s good for fixing cracked tool handles, too. Work some epoxy into the crack, then wrap tightly with strapping tape. This will clamp the repair while the glue dries, and reinforce it later in life. Since glass tape can be hard on hands, wrap over it with a layer of vinyl electrical tape.

And speaking of vinyl electrical tape, I routinely use it to fasten the reels on my surf-casting rods. It works just as well as an expensive reel seat, but it’s smoother under your hand, and warmer on a windy fall day.

In the repair department, I’ve used fiberglass-reinforced strapping tape to fix leaking hoses, and the trap on my darkroom sink after it had corroded through. Just wrap on several snug layers over the damage, and a few inches to either side.

One final tip: Whenever you use this tape, wrap it on under tension. This gives the best grip and helps the tape conform to irregular surfaces. But as you finish the job, make your last few wraps with almost no tension on the tape. If you stretch the tape tight for the last few wraps, something odd will happen: Slowly, over time, the stretched tape will start to shrink. The end will creep away from the point where you smoothed it carefully into place. Eventually it may come loose.