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You might think I’m kidding. I am absolutely not. This year, a tape dispenser for my blue tape is the nicest thing I’ve added to my shop.
Like many woodworkers, I use blue painter’s tape for many tasks, from taping down small repairs to marking out joinery to shimming things square. For years I simply pulled it off the roll. You know the drill: Find the end of the tape, get a fingernail under it, pinch the end, pull, rip.
With a tape dispenser I work about five times faster. You might be rolling your eyes at this point. If you are, then just stop reading. The rest of us know that a dispenser is a huge improvement.
You need a heavy one with a grippy base. I shopped around and found mine at Staples. It will hold only one roll. Now I’m on the hunt for a heavy vintage one like we had in the newspaper productions shop I worked for four years. It would hold three rolls. That way I can have blue tape, sellotape and regular masking tape.
— Christopher Schwarz
- To read past entries from this guide (and from former years), click here.
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
