I usually randomly grab one of four rolls of double-sided tape from my drawer when mounting items to be turned, but I recently had a project that required tape mounting for a number of pieces, so I decided to test the four brands I had. (I acquired these over recent years on the recommendations of turners whose opinion I respected.)
I did the test as "scientifically" as I could, with identically-sized pieces of tape holding the same two pieces of wood together, same setting time (5 mins), the surfaces cleaned each time etc. I had put a screw eye on the top piece, held the bottom piece in a vise, and then pulled on the eye screw with a baggage scale. I tried each tape three times, and here are the averages for the weight at which the pieces of wood separated:
- No-name paper-backed tape from my woodturning supply dealer: 42 lbs (19kg)
- Intertape 591 paper-backed: 64 lbs (29 kg)
- Nitto Permacell P-02 paper-backed: 77 lbs (35 kg)
- Spectape 555H136 cloth-backed: 86 lbs (39 kg)
So, a difference factor of 2x: I suppose if I have something that really matters, or where I have a wood that might not adhere well, I will use one of the tapes that performed better. But the good news is that all of the tapes held very well; I tried them each on several of the pieces I turned and had zero failures. I am always impressed by how well double-sided tape holds.
There is room for more testing in this area. For example, the Nitto tape seems "tackier",and though it was a bit weaker than the Spectape on the clean, dry maple I was testing on, it might hold better on some (perhaps oiler or more open-celled) woods. Also, my test was a straight pull: the results might vary a bit if the separating force were coming from an angle, as it usually would be when turning.
Gord
I did the test as "scientifically" as I could, with identically-sized pieces of tape holding the same two pieces of wood together, same setting time (5 mins), the surfaces cleaned each time etc. I had put a screw eye on the top piece, held the bottom piece in a vise, and then pulled on the eye screw with a baggage scale. I tried each tape three times, and here are the averages for the weight at which the pieces of wood separated:
- No-name paper-backed tape from my woodturning supply dealer: 42 lbs (19kg)
- Intertape 591 paper-backed: 64 lbs (29 kg)
- Nitto Permacell P-02 paper-backed: 77 lbs (35 kg)
- Spectape 555H136 cloth-backed: 86 lbs (39 kg)
So, a difference factor of 2x: I suppose if I have something that really matters, or where I have a wood that might not adhere well, I will use one of the tapes that performed better. But the good news is that all of the tapes held very well; I tried them each on several of the pieces I turned and had zero failures. I am always impressed by how well double-sided tape holds.
There is room for more testing in this area. For example, the Nitto tape seems "tackier",and though it was a bit weaker than the Spectape on the clean, dry maple I was testing on, it might hold better on some (perhaps oiler or more open-celled) woods. Also, my test was a straight pull: the results might vary a bit if the separating force were coming from an angle, as it usually would be when turning.
Gord