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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   701 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for December 5, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I was watching a video today on a controversial new bicycle from Trek, and perhaps my favorite product of all time featured heavily. That product is Gorilla Tape.

When I was a kid and was first being taught how to repair things, I went through a long period of fascination with glue: Super, Hot, Epoxy, whatever. That same fascination extended to tape. While some liquids were cool to work with, I was always disappointed once adhesives were combined with fabric. I see this same pattern repeating itself in my son - he tries to build or fix the same way I did and can't help getting frustrated with Scotch, Package, etc.

I got my first roll of Gorilla Tape as an award ("Fix Anything!") at work while a frontline software guy. Rather than keep it on my desk, I decided to just use it. I did so for years, and it was a revelation.

This shit is almost a parody of what tape can be. A child's concept that should exist only in cartoons. Fuck self-driving cars, this is the apex of technology. It's a shield of protection, stays put for years, tears straight across with just your hands, and a single roll lasts forever. You can wrap it around your camping water bottle and repair your tent, a bike tire, a bike rack, or whatever else you need to just keep together. It's superbly sticky, but tolerant of being adjusted. I can't say enough about it.

Gorilla Tape's one of those things that seems like a marketing scheme -- I'm not very impressed by Gorilla Glue -- but it's genuinely worth keeping around. Some other fun options:

  • VHB tape. Doesn't have any of the nice benefits like easy reapplication or simple tear. It just sticks things together, and never lets go, and it's just freakishly strong and vibration-resistant. Temperature cycles, weather conditions, high winds, literal fire, doesn't care. I have bent quarter-inch aluminum plate trying to remove things that had been stuck on with (too much) VHB: outside of some careful solvent use, the only real safe way to remove the stuff is to saw it off, and it will leave residue.
  • Gaffers. Yes, it's hilariously expensive for glorified duct tape. If you absolutely, positively, need it to last less than six months on any smooth surface, and come off without leaving residue no matter how absorbent the surface material, there's no competitor.
  • Camper Mounting Tape. This is a fun one because it's useless for adhering two things together. What it does do is provide an easy, fast, seal. Waterproofing? Slap. Vibration dampening? Slap. Need a weak vacuum to hold overnight? Slap.
  • Self-fusing silicone tape. It can't replace every possible use for vinyl or pvc electrical tape -- it's very bad for sealing off actual connectors, or for small areas, or anywhere you can't wrap fully around the surface -- but >90% of situations, it's just so much more reliable for long-term application and several times more pleasant to actually work with. Zero residue, great UV and chemical resistance.

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