One of the wonders of the modern world has undoubtedly got to be Duct tape. Or Gorilla tape, or gaffers tape, I know there are different ones in different parts of the world. It's a waterproof thick tape with a fabric embeded layer. I think that duct tape is most often grey and gaff tape is mostly black, but now they come in different colours, clear and camo.
It's a multi-purpose tape and can be used for minor repairs to tents, backpacks, shoes, can remove plantar warts (I'm gonna try that use on one of my kids), covers holes in screens and nets to keep out the bugs, can be used to pull out a sting or splinter, makes a great bandaid, waterproofs your box of matches in the rain, waterproofs seams, fixes tent poles, holds on parts of your car in an emergency (not the tail pipe of course) and you can use it on ducts!
The more expensive tape brands or gaff tape tends to leave a lot less sticky residue once removed so if you use a lot of tape or are going backpacking somewhere that a replacement is not easily found, spend the money and get a whole roll of the good stuff. You won't be sorry.
On the farm there are probably 3 items I find most useful and they are 1. bailing twine 2. duct tape 3. pocket knife I can do a lot of small repairs with these items and doing a repair while it's small can prevent something from becoming a big problem later in many cases. For example, a rip in the greenhouse plastic is easily fixed with tape. But left out in the wind it will flap, the tear gets bigger and you can lose all your plants to wind damage. Better to fix the rip immediately. Also, duct tape is great for sealing your bee suit to your shoes and gloves if you're working with aggressive or unfamiliar bees. There's not much worse than having an angry bee marching determinedly up the inside of your thigh.
The motorhome and the Prowler trailer are good examples of my NOT to use duct tape outside. The stuff was covering holes in the body but was breaking down due to UV exposure leaving a sticky and stringy mess for us to clean up. Apart from that though, I could sing about the marvels of duct tape all day but it's usefulness has one limiting factor. Your resourcefulness. If you can think of a use them the tape is your friend. If not, well then it's just a roll of tape your friends borrow sometimes. So I challenge you to think outside the box.
Do you have an inventive use for Duct Tape? Send us a comment!
