Recently I have had several discussions about how wonderful a particular double-sided duct tape is for attaching your carvings to a temporary backer board. The one I have been using is Shurtape which is a type of double-sided duct tape. Chales Neil introduced it to me last year. It can be purchased in the duct-tape section at Lowes. It truly is a strong tape (you’ve got to just love that duct tape), and I definitely recommend it if you need something to stick very securely. With the proper solvent, it will release from your backer board very gently. This is where things vary…
I have mentioned I use mineral spirits to release the tape. I simply take a small paint brush, dip it in mineral spirits and brush it along the edge of the carving. The tape will absorb the mineral spirits and release the carving.
Here’s where I have to admit – there are better ways…
I am guilty of having a brain that doesn’t really pay a whole lot of difference between mineral spirits, acetone, lacquer thinner, blah, blah, blah… they don’t mean a lot to me because I so rarely use them. Call it space in my brain where I don’t store useless trivia – but I probably should.
Earlier today I was editing a video for my online school and I was removing the carving from the background with…. lacquer thinner. What??? It very easily popped off the backer board with no gummy, gooey, sticky mess. Hmmmm…
Last week I removed an extremely delicate carving (the acanthus leaf detail on the top of a Highboy) with mineral spirits (thinking this is what I always used). It was a gummy, gooey, sticky mess. I thought maybe I just put too much mineral spirits on it and made a note to myself – I’ll just go easy on the amount next time.
So I thought I would do a little semi-scientific experiment with this Shurtape and every solvent I had in my shop lying around and see what the results would be.
And the winner is…..
Denatured Alcohol! This worked the best in releasing the tape and it didn’t change the nature of the tape (turn it into a gooey piece of bubble-gum)
Second runner-up – a tie between lacquer thinner and acetone. Not much goo and released well
Last – Mineral spirits and Naptha – released well enough, but the gooey nature was irritating and I spent a lot of time rubbing more mineral spirits on the back of the carving to remove the tape. It is almost like these solvents absorb into the tape where the denatured alcohol, lacquer thinner and acetone stay on the surface of the tape.
There you have it. You can do your own experimenting with this tape or other tape you use. Maybe from now on, I will remember – but probably not. I think I need to put a big sign up in my shop so I remember what actually works best. Most likely I’ll be explaining it to someone down the road and I’ll call it “one of those solvent thingys – just can’t remember which…”. Then I’ll have to read my blog…
Now the big question is – do any of these solvents change the nature of the wood? Another semi-science experiment for another day.
The real question should be “Do any of these solvents change the nature of people?”
Yes, they all do! In order from least problematic for people to most problematic, they are mineral spirits, grain alcohol (from a liquor store), acetone. After that, denatured alcohol from the paint store or home centers, lacquer thinner, and naptha all have carcinogens to varying degrees.
So, Jim Beam wins again! Seriously though, people who do a lot of work with shellac suggest buying 190 proof Grain Alcohol from liquor stores, not denatured alcohol from paint stores or home centers. 190 grain alcohol is not available in most nanny states. They don’t want you too drunk to drive, but don’t care that it has no carcinogens.
And no, most of those have little effect on wood. In fact, a lot of boat builders and furniture makers splash alcohol on raw lumber to get a rough sense of what color it will have when finished.
THANKS for the information about the tape and for the science experiments.
Carcinogen reference: https://100777.com/node/1117
The “code monkey” is Bob Easton.
Bob,
Thanks so much for bring the potential health issues up. I did caution people in my video, but neglected to bring it up here. It is important that people are very aware of the health hazards with any solvent – either touching it or breathing it. My husband worked a lot on boats and practically bathed in MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) when he was younger. Now he can’t be near the stuff. It seems the more you work with these, the more sensitive you get to them. As I mentioned in my blog, I am fortunate enough to not use these much (and therefore not really remembering the difference between them).
Thanks again – very important information.