Adhesive residue on unfinished wood

[<joenation1]

I have been building 17 raised panel doors for our kitchen cabinets in a cabinet refacing project. There are only 4 of the doors that are the same size. This means that the stiles, rails and raised panels in most of the doors are different sizes. To identify each of the different sized parts, I used some self adhesive file folder labels on the unfinished wood as it was cut to size to identify which parts went with which door and where each completed door would go in the kitchen. The labels have been on the wood only 4 days now. When I went to remove the labels today there is a sticky adhesive residue that remains on the wood. I do not look forward to removing this residue as it is just more work.

My question is what type of labels should I have used to identify the parts from my cut list? Are there labels that will not leave a residue that will interfere with the finish on my parts?

[Upscale]

Can I assume the doors aren't finished yet? If so, you can buy alcohol based adhesive remover at your drug store that should remove the stickyness without harming or otherwise affecting the wood. An alternative is to get some 2" shipping tape and dab the stick areas with it to remove the residue.

I'm sure there are easy to remove labels available, but I don't know of any offhand. What I do know of is paper tape that is commonly used for medical purposes or painter's tape used for sectioning areas during painting. They're both easy to remove and do not leave residue.

[Tony]

Cut off the sticky part of Post-It notes and use as label.

Tony S.

[Upscale]

That's not a bad idea except that the post-in notes that I've used tend to fall off very easily. Guess it would work if the work was mostly laid flat and not vertical.

[Burgy]

Any thing that will stick to the wood will affect the finish in that area. Don't care what they promise, it will. Especially if you are going to use a stain. Even if you aren't going to use a stain. It will show, maybe not so anyone else will notice, but you will, and you'll have to look at it forever. Believe me, I know. I lived with blotches for 30 years. Finally moved. But when I go back to visit,(daughter lives there now) I still look to see if they are still there. At the time, I didn't have the room to keep everything stacked separate on a marked sheet of paper or anything, so i brought home some stickers from work, and even stuck them on the edges so it wouldn't be obvious. Now , no one else notices, but I know they are there and it drives me batty when I am there.

[Lew Hodgett]

Use some denatured alcohol to remove the adhesive.

DO NOT use alcohol containg any water the you will find at the drug store.

In the future, use 3M "Blue Tape" in the future for labels.

Blue tape is good for about a week.

Lew

[Leon]

Just sand the labels off when you do your finish sanding. Works for me.

[dadiOH]

Skip labels, write on them with a marker. In some place that will be covered by something else like an end.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

#2 pencil

[George]

I do the David Marks and use the low-tack masking tape. Holds better than post-its and haven't yet left it on long enough or gotten it warm enough to cause permanent transfer.

Lacquer thinner or acetone, followed by sandpaper is the only solution I can think of to residue.

[Mike Berger]

[B A R R Y]

Using solvents will probably dilute the glue, allowing it to go deeper into the wood.

[Leon]

I learned that tip from Tom Plamann. I was reading something on his site about making tambours and he mentioned gluing paper to the pieces and then sanding it off, IIRC I think he did that to hold every thing together while he glued the canvas backing on the back side.

[Gooey TARBALLS]

Would he have been better advised to have simply used a pencil?

Or would this have proved worse?

[Leon]

Perhaps, but labels are really easy to see and read if you use a printer. A regular pencil mark is very easily removed with paint thinner but again on some medium to dark woods it can be tough to see.

[George]

Chalk.

[Gerald Ross]

Might try gummed labels that you actually lick or wet to stick. These will leave a dry glue that should easily sand off.

To get the residue off I have used the rubber sticks that are used for cleaning sanding belts. It worked for the label I had. YMMV

[Enoch Root]

From personal experience, I'd not recommend this for any wood with open pores.

er

[Herb Robinson]

Use a pencil and when ready to remove markings, use alcohol -- markings come right off.