Which cloth tape is the most permanent?

[T.G.]

For Bellows.
Gaffer's tape or Bookbinder's Tape? Which is more permanent?

[C. D. Keth]

I don't know about bookbinding tape but gaff will dry out and go crumbly in a year or two.

[Steve Barber]

Have not used it for that, but I have used bookbinder's tape on old wooden film holders and it has held up. I would not use gaffer's tape for camera bellows other than as a temporary expedient.

[Lachlan 717]

Can you please explain how something can be more permanent than something else that is permanent?

[jcoldslabs]

Can you please explain how something can be more permanent than something else that is permanent?

Is the meaning of the question unclear to you? I took it to mean, "Which will last longer?"

I would say bookbinding tape.

Jonathan

[Lachlan 717]

Is the meaning of the question unclear to you?

Jonathan

I would say that the meaning of my question is unclear to you.

Permenant, being an absolute, does not have degrees. As such, asking which is "more" permenant is redundant, tautological and, therefore, impossible to answer.

[IanG]

The worst possible tape to use is Gaffer tape, it's useful bit not for repairs and once it begins to deteriorate leaves a terrible mess. I've had to do restorations where Gaffer tape was used and it takes time and care to remove all the traces.

For bellows I was using an invisible mend self adhesive fabric designed for repairing suits etc It was made in Holland and very thin, the black vbersion is light-tight and once used it's difficult to spot the repaired area, (on the Grfalex bellows I repaired), the other advantage is it's so thin it has no affect on the bellows compression even used on the damaged areas inside and out. I've also been able to repair a hole on a Graflex shutter curtain with it.

Of the OP's choices I'd go for bookbinders tape.

Ian

[Doremus Scudder]

I would say that the meaning of my question is unclear to you.

Permenant [sic.], being an absolute, does not have degrees. As such, asking which is "more" permenant [sic.] is redundant, tautological and, therefore, impossible to answer.

Lachlan,

You are picking nits as well as in error as to common usage. "Permanent," in the original question was not used as an absolute. Neither option given was considered "eternal." The "more permanent" question was/is completely valid if one uses "permanent" in the meaning of "long-lasting," which is completely acceptable to me (for example, a "permanent address" is not eternal, nor is a "permanent wave").

And, if I process my prints correctly, they will be more permanent than if I underwash. I know of no clearer way to express this.

By the way, I vote for bookbinder's tape as the more permanent of the two choices. The adhesive on gaffer's tape gets hard and separates from the backing after a year or so; the bookbinder's tape on the books I have that have been rebound is doing fine after decades.

Best,

Doremus

[Jim Jones]

Tape may be required for some repairs. Such a repair made decades ago with black crepe paper tape on one of my cameras is still light-tight. For pinholes in fabric lined bellows, black acrylic artist's paint thoroughly scrubbed into the fabric seems to be a neat and permanent, if not eternal, repair.

[adam satushek]

Gaff tape is designed to not be permanent. It's intended to be used kind of like painters masking tape. It creates a good enough bond on surfaces such as wood floors or carpet to hold cables and such in place but if removed within a few weeks is not supposed to leave residue. Very useful for semi-permanent applications such as cable managment on location shoots. The adhesive, while strong is designed to not lift paint and other finishes when removed. But if left for years it dries and seperates and gets nasty like others have said. I've only used a bit of book binders tape, its nice and certainly more permanent, but possibly kind of thick for bellows repair, but I'm not sure. I use black gasket builder from the autoshop. Seems ok, but not petty and has to be reapplied periodically.

[T.G.]

To everyone thanks so much for the input from your own experiences with the two tapes.

[jwaddison]

I haven't used bookbinder's or gaffer's tape, but what I have used is the black fabric tape for wrapping hockey sticks. I've only used it to repair film holder flaps, not on a bellows. It's a pretty heavy-duty tape though, and might interfere with the bellows movement. It's lasted years on my film holders without a problem.

[jp]

I've used tennis racket tape (probably like jw's hocket stick tape) as a friction surface on my tripod head, and it's stayed in place perfectly for two years. I'd use it on bellows too if I had to. If it's an old rat-rod beater camera, use some tape or paint. If it's gotta look good, go for new bellows.