Obvious Really

[pinkmouse]

http://www.wired.com/news/technology...?tw=wn_index_4

[SY]

Don't the Brits have some other funny name for it? Gaffer tape, maybe?

[pinkmouse]

Not just us, it's the generic in the entertainment industry all over the world.

[kelticwizard]

Hard to believe it has been around since WWII. I only became aware of it in the 1980's, when people were talking about it as a new thing. Also, I always asssumed "duck tape" wa corruption of the original "duct tape", and it turns out to be the other way around.

[poobah]

I'd really like to believe that it was first called "duck tape".

Hmmm...

Corsairs during WWII were routinely given a fresh application of this tape in front of the canopy over the seams in the fuel tank before each flight. These seams would weep fuel and mess up the view... in all photos... the tape is clearly silver.

[sklimek]

Originally posted by SY
Don't the Brits have some other funny name for it? Gaffer tape, maybe?

Gaffers tape is different in that it has a heavy cloth base and uses a different adhesive. Gaffers tape can be hand ripped easier and when pulled up from say a painted cement floor the odds are it won’t pull the paint up as easily as duct tape, very strong and reliable. Three times the cost of duct tape but worth every penny if used as a tool. A gaffer is a technician in lightning on a movie set or still camera. Can't say what came first the - the duct or the gaffer, but one is most likely a spin off of the other...

Here is a link to the the church of the Holy Gaffer Tape.

http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/gaffer/

[SY]

I learn something new every day. Very interesting, thanks!

[Schaef]

I would have to agree, gaffer tape and duct tape are two different critters. They share an ancestry, but they have very different uses. Gaffer tape is stickier (is that a word?) and leaves little to no residue. Also, as sklimek pointed out, its easier to tear, and costs a lot more money. However, its worth every penny! Where I've seen duct tape fail, I've no seen gaffer tape fail, even when its being used to hold lighting gels in front of a 500Watt instrument!!

[pinkmouse]

Originally posted by Schaef
...even when its being used to hold lighting gels in front of a 500Watt instrument!!

If you did that on one of my gigs, you'd be straight out of the door!

[Schaef]

Originally posted by pinkmouse


If you did that on one of my gigs, you'd be straight out of the door!

And when you have no money and the gel frame is AWOL, you need to gel the instrument, you have no choice. I didn't say I do it because I want to. Otherwise, I'd agree. I see this done on a community theatre level, if I saw it done on a professional level, I'd have the same opinion.

I just wish I could have been on some of the gigs you've done!