# Adhesive tape: Why is It All or Nothing?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adhesive-tape-why-is-it-all-or-nothing/591080>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 1, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adhesive-tape-why-is-it-all-or-nothing/591080 "2011-08-01T18:44:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adhesive-tape-why-is-it-all-or-nothing/591080/1 "2011-08-01T18:44:41Z")

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My experience with adhesive tape (all types) is that on ageing, the adhesive either:  
-falls off completely,or:  
-welds itself and will not come off.  
Why is this? I just did battle with a stick-on pricetag, on a lamp I bought-nothing would take the label off! I had to scrape it off with a razor blade.  
The opposite extreme: some old books I “fixed” with adhesive tape: the pages are falling ot, with no adhesion to the tape at all.

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adhesive-tape-why-is-it-all-or-nothing/591080/2 "2011-08-01T19:53:13Z")

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I hear you, ralph124c. It’s a mystery as old as sticky tape. Masking tape, when it’s really masking, will either let paint sneak underneath it or leave sticky crap behind.

“Duct” tape is amazing for some things, but isn’t worth a darn on ducts. It will hold some stuff forever, but if you use it to repair a torn seat, it goes really weird and sticky.

PostIt® notes are supposed to restick again and again, but they don’t. The more important the note is, the more likely they’ll fall off.

Right now, I have a partial outline of a gauze pad’s adhesive tape still on my knee, a week after I took it off.

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**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adhesive-tape-why-is-it-all-or-nothing/591080/3 "2011-08-01T20:12:24Z")

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> [@AskNott](#):
>
> “Duct” tape is amazing for some things, but isn’t worth a darn on ducts. It will hold some stuff forever, but if you use it to repair a torn seat, it goes really weird and sticky.

Vinyl seat? the plasticizer solvents in vinyl will attack and soften a lot of plastics and prevent adhesives from “curing.”

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**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adhesive-tape-why-is-it-all-or-nothing/591080/4 "2011-08-01T21:59:22Z")

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Adhesives come in many different types. As air gets to them, they oxidize. In some cases, they have a vegetable oil component and ‘‘dry’’ like old oil base paint. In other cases, it goes further and little of the original material is left. Rubber eventually falls apart. How soon depends how much expensive stabilizer was put in it.