Masking tape: What kind?

Per advice here, I have gotten in the habit of prefinishing parts before assembly. It makes the joint corners neater and allows me a lot less stress about squeeze-out.

...but...

Working only on weekends - and sparingly at that - I take a long time to finish a project, so that tape is likely to be on for a good while. In this case it must have been a month or more.

I just removed a bunch of tape with some difficulty. It came off, but in many small pieces, which is a pain. I used some green tape and some blue tape. The green was easier to remove, but that may have been more a matter of location; those edges didn't get covered in stain and finish to the same degree that the blue tape did.

So I'm wondering what you folks use, and what you might use if you knew it wouldn't be coming off for many weeks.

Reply to
Greg Guarino
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You can't have it both ways. Tape that adheres well isn't easy to get off. Tape that comes off easily won't stay on long. That is why they make so many kinds:

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The tape that sticks really well will off-gas and foul most finishes and th e glue will embed itself in to the surface. It will leave behind adhesive on newer finishes as well as discolor raw wood as well as leaving adhesive behind. The tape itself it designed for high adhesion, so it is loaded wit h glue that is almost always solvent based.

The more lightly adhered stuff uses less adhesive and has only a small amou nt of solvent carrier in it.

Most real paint stores carry a "24 hour painter's tape" as well as a "48 ho ur painter's tape". 24 hour use on one, 48 on the other. There are differ ent versions of each, finally winding up to the strongest of them all, the old crepe masking tape. As you probably know, leaving that no any surface i s asking for problems.

Try a paint store and see if the can suggest something, but as far as I kno w, "you can't get there from here".

Can you re-think your finishing process to work around re-taping too many t imes?

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Personally I'd rather remove and re-apply several times than fight with the nasty crap sold as "masking tape" after it has been on a workpeice for more than a couple of days.Some of the higher end tapes like "frog tape" comes off a little easier for quite a while longer than the cheap stuff though.

Reply to
clare

Don't over think the taping. Glue sticks to a varnished/stain surface too although not as well to bare wood. I tape a day or two in advance if I tape at all. The longer the tape is left on the piece the more difficult it is to remove. Most specialty tapes give information as to how many days you can leave the tape.

Also, while glue will stick to a finished surface, it is also easier to remove than from an unfinished surface. I have been able to successfully remove squeeze out from a finished surface with a sharp chisel.

Woodworking is as much learning to fix mistakes as preventing mistakes. :~)

Reply to
Leon

I wouldn't be using tape if I knew it was going to be on that long. In fact, I wouldn't be using it if I knew it was going to be on for more than a day or two.

I have a love/hate relationship with masking tape...

First of all, I find it insanely over priced for what it is.

Secondly, I find it hard to impossible to precisely mask something. Like door casing when painting an adjaent wall, for example. By "precisely" I mean perfectly.

Thirdly,with painters or regular tape, there always seems to be a bit of creep here and there under the tape. (I know how to avoid it via painting the edge with what it is covering, letting dry, then painting over with color #2 but that is a PITA. Frog tape is an easier option at greater cost).

What I really want is a tape I can apply like wall paper...apply, trim with a knife and straight edge. One of these days I am going to experiment with brown paper pckaging tape. Or even brown wrapping paper applied wet with wheat paste or mucilage or gum arabic.

Reply to
dadiOH

I also prefinish whenever possible. Just to be safe I've stopped using tape to protect the finish. I dry assemble and then apply a little Trewax paste wax along the joint lines. Take it apart and reassemble with glue. Glue comes off the wax pretty easily although I've never left it on more than a few days.

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

So first, let me say that the tape removal was successful, just a little more of a nuisance than I would prefer. This is at worst an annoyance, not a problem. I don't see any obvious residue.

Secondly, I did in fact apply wider tape than necessary, then cut away the excess with a straight edge and razor knife.

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So did I bite into the wood? Sure. But I deliberately kept the line a tiny fraction inside the area that would be covered by the mating piece of wood. This was to ensure that a bare "bright line" wouldn't show after I put the (stained and finished) pieces together. Unlike taping for wall painting, any seepage under the tape (and there was very little of that) won't be visible.

Reply to
Greg Guarino

Just to be clear, I don't let the glue dry (at least completely) on finished surfaces either. But it's easier to lift off in its semi-gelled state, and I can wipe off residue with water too, without worrying that some of the water/glue slurry may seep into the wood and resist stain later.

Reply to
Greg Guarino

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