there we go hi everybody adam savage from tested here in my cave
uh and i'm answering some questions submitted by tested patrons
if you would like to submit a question to me as a tested patron well you can become a
tested patron by following the directions in the comments below but today's question comes from
aurelio uh pat pez paz i'm sorry aurelio i do not know how to pronounce your last name p-a-e-z
um we all love duct tape aurelio says what is the best duct tape brand for you i'm partial to
gorilla i keep a meter wrapped on a used up gift card as part of my everyday carry just
a curious nasa guy aurelio first of all that's a great edc thing to do second of all duct tape
um here's the thing about duct tape
i hate duct tape
i can't stand this stuff i i would never use it under nearly any circumstances there are
everything that does take everything that duct tape is good at there is something
that is better seriously the worst thing it's the thing it's the worst at
is literally its name ducks it is horrendous on ducks don't ever use it for ducks
i don't well i kind of know how it got the name duct tape but i don't know how that
stuck because it's singularly awful at sealing ducts you want to seal up a duck
sorry duct if you want to seal up a duct use some of this nausea aluminum tape
aluminized tape this is what you seal ducts with yes you want to waterproof a tent well
there's some much better camping waterproof tapes and in that regard
i guess gorilla's duct tape is an is a duct tape but it's so the gorilla tape
is so much more powerful and so much heavier duty that i don't even think of it as the same
class of duct tape your average duct tape it just never even comes into my problem-solving brain
but wait i hear you saying didn't you make three or four hours of network television devoted
to duct tape and the answer is yes and i stand by all of the production we did around duct tape
because what duct tape was in those circumstances was not
it was not a miracle material in fact the opposite duct tape's amazing utility
in the episodes we used it in is that it's not great at stuff but you can
engineer with it right so that's it's like the triumph of engineering over the material
yeah i i don't know what to tell you i can't stand it i it leaves a residue it rots over time it
dries out and leaves crap on i mean like it does not handle being out in the sun very well yeah
duct tape is and i've experienced this across many brands i'm sure in the comments are people telling
telling me and each other what their favorite brands of duct tape are that's fine um when i
need a cloth tape i'm gonna go for gaffer tape wait i'll show you some this is gaffer tape
and uh this is what the entire film industry runs on and gaffer tape is like duct tape went
to college and learned how to like actually do its job um gaffer tape also not a permanent solution
ever right it also can leave a residue on stuff and it dries out but it's way easier to work with
than duct tape um you can buy multiple types of thickness i like rosco's gaff tape a lot i buy it
from our local film vendor here in san francisco jcx expendables uh use them and abuse them they're
not flesh and blood that was their company motto and i've been shopping from them for 30 more than
30 years yeah um but duct tape yeah i look i think we use the nashua brand for all the mythbusters
episodes and i still have a giant case of hundreds of rolls of it in storage um they're all sealed so
it should be just fine but i don't have any plans to crack into that just yet i mean you know if the
apocalypse happens sure i'll make a zombie net out of duct tape yeah but uh as far as an actual
material that i consider part of the palace of my problem solving duct tape is not in there
yeah so it like
narratively it is the perfect material for the episodes we made
because everybody knows what it is and it also has a kind of a stat a cultural stand-in as like
as the the the the cluj k-l-u-g-e one of my favorite words the klushi solution like
includes it together we can just wrap some duct tape around it right like duct tape has
a cultural cache and we utilize that in the mythbusters episodes in order to highlight
these engineering solutions utilizing this imperfect material
and that thrills me like i that's a narrative it's a that's a narrative uh uh approach that
i never don't find exciting i love the idea of giving multiple people the same material
and asking them to solve the same problem and watch them all solve it in totally different ways
i mean that was actually that was that's a regularly that is a regular plot we utilized on
mythbusters so that jamie and i could like explore a thing and it less being about the competition of
the thing than just like looking at two different executions of the same of the same problem yeah um
it's a terrific question aurelio and it's a totally rational question
and i'm sorry to give you i think what is an unexpected answer that i can't stand the stuff
uh if i in my camping bag i do have about 10 yards of this stuff wrapped around uh
i think it's a little a spool of delrin that i made um but yeah no duct tape in my edc
thank you guys so much tested patrons your questions remain
tremendous and awesome i will continue to answer them in this forum and again
become a tested patron it's a great way to support us and there's all sorts of extra
benefits you can find the instructions in the comments below um but that's enough selling you
the thing you're watching currently uh stay safe i will see you guys next time cheers