I tried to use it to fix several typos on one of my production reports. It did not go well. I mean, the department head found it amusing but upper management were not pleased.
It really depends on the adhesive used to make the tape. Some are very high quality and age well, don’t transfer, and have excellent temperature resistance. Others are made from low cost, low quality, highly plasticized adhesives with little cohesive strength and poor temperature resistance.
It saved Mark Watney’s life.
There is the claim that it was, in fact, originally called “Duck Tape”, based on the fact that the backing was a light form of or resembled the canvasy fabric called duck, that “duct tape” is a sort of back formation of that. Obviously I cannot assert definitively that that is the case, merely that it is a claim, and duct tape cannot fix history.
Most, but not all.
I use Kapton tape a great deal. Unlike every other tape I’ve used, it doesn’t appear to degrade at all over time. Duct tape and electrical tape basically melt eventually; cellophane and masking tape dry out and crumble to dust. Kapton tape sticks and the film remains flexible and durable.
It’s a good electrical insulator, so it serves as a decent electrical tape. It’s also thin and works well to separate two flat surfaces that shouldn’t be in electrical contact. It comes in double-stick varieties that works for adhering solar cells to a substrate, for instance.
The adhesive is not very gooey and so doesn’t do well on porous surfaces. But it’s great on metals and many plastics. It works best on very clean surfaces.
A hole in the sky.
Probably works OK on cracks through a door though.
Duct tape is a standard ingredient of a equine first aid kit for a trailer or saddle bag. A baby diaper and a lot of duct tape makes a useful emergency bandage, even for a hoof. It’s good for stuff you are going to throw out very soon (like bandages). There are better tapes for almost everything else.
The Vet said it would not fix a cat I used to own.
A horse race.
It won’t fix anatomical ducts in the human body. Tear ducts, bile ducts, thoracic ducts, etc.
Bad Tooth ache.
Like someone said up thread it’s great to tape a broken toe to it’s neighbor. And now they have cute colors so your injury can match your outfit.
Are you sure? Have you even tried?
It gets dry and brittle. As mentioned upthread, you need foil tape on your anatomical ducts.
A marriage.
My life is held together with duct tape, baling twine, and zip ties. A little WD-40 now and then as well.
Weirdly, I was also thinking of bile ducts, for when there’s a surgical oops and you don’t have the time or patience for suturing.
As it turns out, duct tape (or something similar) could have a promising medical future.
While WD-40 is contraindicated for treatment of stiff/arthritic knees, a variation on the theme called viscosupplementation is in use.
Won’t fix a fix when you really need it because you’re going down, down to the bits that you left uptown. Nor a Mother Superior jumping the gun.
Won’t fix anything that gets hot, like a broken tailpipe. Not even warm, like a gun or happiness.
Nor will it fix that terrifying moment where you’re washing your hands at the sink, and – having recently lost weight – your wedding band slips off the finger and goes down the drain.
And you scream aloud, “Where did my Ringo !?!”
Who knew? There ARE people who collect 8-track tapes.
Just wanted to mention - do NOT use WD40 on mechanical clocks. It might bring the clock back to life for a short while, but then gums up worse than ever. And - never spray a clock movement with oil. There are parts which are NOT meant to be oiled.
(Regardless - never use spray oil on a clock movement. If you must try to repair a clock - read up on proper repair an oiling before you begin.)
One of the big complaints of professional clock repairers is receiving a movement for repair that has undergone the WD40 treatment. They first have to run the movement through an extra cleaning step so the WD40 doesn’t ruin their regular cleaning solutions.