A Panning That Sticks For A Tape That Doesn't: Nashua Duct Tape Lets Go!

The Good: Tears easily
The Bad: Doesn't stick!
The Basics: A generally worthless tape, Nashua black duct tape fails to adhere to every surface I have tried it on for longer than a week.


In my ongoing quest to push myself as a writer - and work my way through my tool box - I find myself once again writing about something completely esoteric and wondering if there truly is enough to say about a product to make it worthwhile for myself and my readers. Tonight, the object of my critical eye is my roll of Nashua Black Duct Tape. This was part of the toolbox my former father-in-law gave to me and I've been slowly going through this roll of duct tape for the past five years. There is a reason for that: this tape barely adheres to anything and is more or less useless.

To be clear, I know Nashua Tape has a great reputation for its tapes, including its duct tapes. It has many fine products, some others I have used and am in possession of. However, the Nashua Tape Black Duct tape is not one of their sterling products and unlike their silver (or, more accurately, gray) duct tape because this is black, it cannot even be used to label things. Instead, it is a poor excuse for a tape that is not ideal for sticking anything to anything else.

The Nashua Black Duct Tape comes in a roll that is two inches wide by sixty yards long and I have only about ten yards left on the roll I received so long ago because I now use it so infrequently. What Nashua claims is two inches wide is actually 1 7/8" wide. The duct tape is only about a millimeter thick. The spool is free-standing; this does not come in any form of dispenser. As a result, most people keep their duct tape separate or on a professional (industrial, like for boxes) dispenser.

What the Nashua Black Duct tape has going for it is quite simple. First, it looks cool. This has a matte black finish which stands out on white or light colored surfaces. If one needs a tape to mark marks on a stage, for example, this tape works excellent. Similarly, I found it adhered well enough to white cabinets I was painting near and I used it as painter's tape to provide clear guide lines to prevent my cabinets from getting painted on. The Nashua black duct tape held just long enough to allow me to do that and it peeled off easily.

The second thing Nashua Black Duct Tape has as an advantage is that it is remarkably easy to tear. In fact, this is a duct tape that is as easy as masking tape to tear when one rips perpendicular to the end. It tears like virtually any other duct tape I have ever used and it is very easy to detach from the roll without the need for any other tools.

Unfortunately, Nashua Black Duct tape, at least the roll I've been milking for years, has the severe drawback of not adhering to anything well. Like virtually every other duct tape, it has fibers in it to reinforce it and make it stronger than most tapes, but I find it easy to tear through and more often than not, the "threads" pull out of this tape, making it come apart easier. There are no conditions or surfaces where this is the ideal tape.

I have placed it on the floor to keep marks. It worked . . . until one scuffed it good with their sneaker. My mother had a bat in her back hall which continues to get into the insulation, so I used the Nashua black duct tape to seal up the edges of the insulation. It did not adhere to either the wood or the kraft paper backing of the insulation for more than a day before it began to peel off. And when I used it on the cupboards when I was painting . . . not only did it come right off when I was done painting, it fell off in points midway through the painting! As an appropriate test, I also used this tape on a duct going from my oil furnace to the air vent. Even though it was around a fairly cool duct without any holes in it, this tape never adhered on the aluminum for more than a week.

In short, this tape holds onto nothing that I have found well. It is not ideal for plaster, paper (I even tried it with some posters! It did not hold, though to be fair it held to the posters better than to the plaster wall), wood, aluminum or even itself! This is an easy tape to pass by.

For a vasty better adhesive, check out my review of DAP Contact Cement by clicking here!

1/10

For other household product reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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