Sitting across from me in my office is a stack of nine rolls of black gaffers tape. From six feet away, they all look identical, but every roll has minor differences that impact its performance and its price. If you are a gaffers tape buyer or user and are curious about the minor differences from […]
News aggregators like Google News Alerts and Yahoo News are great for helping develop content for this blog. I have lots of alert words related to the adhesive-backed tape industry and get interesting news items every day. Far and away, the leader in stories returned from these searches relate to “red tape“. That got us […]
It’s pretty confusing. Tape manufacturers use both the metric system and the standard measuring system when designating tape sizes. The thickness of the tape is measured in “mils” which translates to “thousandths of an inch”. Good quality gaffers tape is at least 12 mils thick. The width of a roll of tape is measured in millimeters or […]
Deciding which adhesive-backed tape product is best for your application can be confusing. Solving a problem without spending unnecessary money or creating more problems down the road is a challenge. If you’re not sure which tape is right for you, ask these questions: 1. Is tape the best solution for your problem? What characteristics should it […]
For years, I had been under the impression that the term “duck” used in the description of that ubiquitous silver tape instead of the correct word “duct” was because the tape was waterproof. Now, it turns out that the answer is not so simple. According to a story in the Daily News Miner, an Alaska […]
Try these tips for quick and easy cable taping 1. Stretch your cable out across the area where it will be taped down. 2. After pulling the cable straight, tape across each end with a short length of gaffers tape to hold it in place (if the distance is long, you might want to add a couple of strips […]
It’s about time to start taking down all those Holiday decorations and putting them away for the next eleven months. Here are a few things that can help keep things organized for next year: 1. Velcro one wrap straps. These handy little wraps work great for keeping holiday lights or tinsel from turning into […]
In our ongoing discussion about tape pricing and the havoc caused by raw material costs, there is a group of companies caught between the manufacturers (companies like Shurtape) and distributors (that’s what we do). These companies are called converters and they provide the essential service of “converting” large rolls of tape called “jumbos” into tape […]
Cotton futures have reached a 12 month low, down by almost a third since this time last year. Since the primary component in most cloth tapes is cotton, the price of these tapes should remain stable for the foreseeable future. While oil prices (the primary component in high quality tape adhesives) have been less stable, […]
A little known product called fashion tape, long a secret of hollywood wardrobe professionals, can now be found on the shelves of many drugstores and department stores. It is similar to double faced tape used for carpet installation, but has special properties that make it more appropriate for use with fabrics. Click here to read […]