Thread: Removing the goo of duct tape

I second the lighter fluid. It removes glue and that's the he and the she of it.

Lots of solutions here, as always

Thanks everybody.

Just to recap, there are many solvents that will remove adhesives left from tape but depending on what the surface is made from, I'd normally recommend starting with the least aggressive and work my way up if necessary. Plain old mineral spirits (paint/varnish thinner) works well too, is slightly less volatile than some of the others mentioned and are less likely to damage the surface you are trying to clean. I've been caught with my pants down when it comes to Goo Gone, it dulled the surface of a glossy plastic door on my cloths dryer when I tried to remove some tape residue.... Mineral spirits didn't touch the surface at all, well at least not for the short period of time it took to get the rest of the tape off.

Regards

Christian

I agree with Kap 0 on the mineral spirits, it's a great, tame solvent, naphtha (lighter fluid) works well too, but evaporates much faster. Acetone is also a great solvent, but must be watched around plastics. Turpentine will work well too and has a nifty aroma. Strong soap and hot water might work as well. So long as the tape adhesive residue is new and not old and hardened, it should be fairly painless to remove.

good luck,

I've sucessfully used, of all things, WD-40 on a paper towel or rag to get off most sticky stuff. I used to work as a bike mechanic, and we used this to clean bikes all the time, including the rim tape and handle bar tape residue. Parenthetically, I hear that WD-40 is mostly kerosene, and I remember we used that on the farm all the time to clean stuff.

I also second lighter fluid.

Mark

Don't Repeat DON"T use any of the strong chemicals near your scales...just a hint acetone and anything with naphtha will eat scales, trust me that's how we pop inlays to re-do them..... I just dissolved some old DD scales to pop the brass inlays this week.....

WD-40 will take the goo right off the spine and I have never had it hurt any of the scales........ Vintage or custom

sixgun,

Do you mean the vapors of those chemicals will harm the scales or is it necessary to get liquids on the scales to cause harm? And are you referring to all the chemicals I mentioned?

Acetone for sure is the worst. I would not even open that on my bench near any razor I did not want to dissolve the scales on...
The rest are also harmful but to a lesser degree, keep in mind they are your razors you can use anything you want...... My recommendation is WD-40 or a like product, that is the safest I have found that does the job quickly.... I have not tried that on a custom razor with a oil finish such as Beeswax/Linseed so be careful there it might penetrate that finish....