Rick49

14 September 2009

Having had a few hours struggling with a roll of masking tape (for the purposes of painting), I would like to put it forward as the most advanced product we use today. Firstly, if you try to use it on old painted surfaces, it refuses to stick unless you use enough pressure to damage whatever is underneath it. Up to 24 hours it MAY stay put, but at 24 hours and one minute, when you try to remove it, it pulls most of the underlying paint off with it. If you want to tear it down its length, perhaps to make two straight edges to economise on tape, it tears 90 degrees across the roll and you all know that, in contrast, if you are in a hurry or holding the object to be painted with one hand and the roll in your teeth or vice versa and need it to tear cleanly, it tears down the centre of the roll and you lose at least three turns off the roll because it has half a width stuck to it! Now we come to the clincher, try to stick masking tape to any shiny metal surface -it will not stick, but cut it with a pair of scissors and it attaches itself firmly to both blades, and the residue has to be removed with solvent - absolute magic! And as for trying to pull a long length off a roll for a pristine straight edge - forget it. That tape just doubles back and adheres to itself and every loose object nearby and gets tangled up. That stuff definitely has a brain of its own and is clearly more advanced than any electronic gadget in use.