Blue Painters Tape

[Bill Sutherland]

Wondered where some of you fellas source different widths of blue painters tape? At $5/roll it gets pretty expensive when you need a bunch.

[Lee Schierer]

Check Uline.com and buy in bulk.

[Barry Block]

Uline, is where I buy mine from. Also if you can use white masking tape it is much cheaper. It is more adhesive which can be good and bad depending on use.

[Randy Viellenave]

https://smile.amazon.com/Blue-Painte...ers+tape&psc=1

$3.83/roll, Uline is $6.40 if you buy 36 or more.

[Marc Jeske]

Course, when trying to reduce cost, now where getting into totally potentially questionable quality imported stuff.

As a parallel, everyone knows and has their favorite abrasives, but I don't think anyone of the faves comes from China.

Or look at black electrical tape - I have never found a cheaper alternative to 3M 88 or 33.

Otherwise adhesive creep, residue, general breakdown in time.

3M also offers "Highland" or others as lower cost alternatives, but w lower performance.

But for some non critical uses, may be ok.

I'm sure blue tape has similar differences.

Suitability all depends on the use.

But ya, the name brand stuff is spendy, and they sure do like to promote the blue over the old style stuff..they have shifted consumer DIY general use way over to blue overall.

Marc

[Ted Derryberry]

I ship a lot of stuff and used to buy a good bit from Uline. You have to admit that they have it, they have it in stock, and they can get it to you in a hurry. However, you can beat their price on practically everything with a little effort.

I don't use a lot of the blue tape and generally buy it from Home Depot. If I needed a size they didn't carry I'd look on Amazon. When you factor in shipping costs elsewhere I doubt you can beat them. If you really need a lot I'd try a paint store. If you open an account you'll often get "professional pricing" and save 10% or so. It may still not be as cheap as Amazon though. I haven't checked, but Zoro.com might be another option. It is Grainger's online presence, but with reasonable prices.

The beige masking tape is junk. If you gave me a case of it I'd be pissed off because of the room it would use up in the dumpster getting rid of it.

The green tape is great too. It is often sold as "for hard to stick surfaces" or "extra strength". I use it a good bit to hold small pieces while glue sets and even to hold stop blocks in place in odd situations. Lately I've been using it as an extra seal at the top of the dust collector bags near the latch where they always leak because the slack is folded up. It sticks to the metal collector and the plastic bag and I even re-use the same piece about three times.

[Ken Kortge]

Lately I'm preferring the green tape. To me it seems to have less of a tendency to tear as it's removed.

[peter gagliardi]

I keep a case of 1" , 1.5", and 2" at the shop. I get it from tapemanblue.com
Made right in PA as well.

[Randy Viellenave]

Course, when trying to reduce cost, now where getting into totally potentially questionable quality imported stuff.
Marc

Good point - I didn't even check the brand. 3M is $4.07 per roll.
https://smile.amazon.com/3M-2090-24E...+painters+tape

[Jay Hart]

You might try Harbor Freight. I use their blue tape and feel the price/quality tradeoff is about right.

[Bill Sutherland]

I did try HF tape a couple of years ago. It was so thin I couldn’t get it to release from the roll without tearing. Bought 12 rolls and every one of them was bad. Maybe they’ve improved but the blue and green tape I’ve used is so much better i’m afraid to try them again.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Cheaper brands are a waste of money, but the white stuff is way cheaper than the blue.
I keep both around.

[Barry Block]

FWIW, I used to hate beige/white masking tape because it would always tear and seem to do more so as it gets older especially around the edges. Then an old timer told me to rub the sides of the rolls with oil every now and then. It helps a lot.

[glenn bradley]

I do various widths and use 1/8", 1/4" and 1/2" as well. If you are worried about cost, using a foot of 2" tape when a foot of 1/2" tape will do can really eat through some product.

tape drawers.jpg

[Ole Anderson]

When I mask for painting, I don't want the paint bleeding under the edge, so I prefer those more expensive products with edge lock adhesive. There is lots of quality differences in blue tape.