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How to remove duct tape residue from walnut

3K views 15 replies 12 participants last post by  Rick Dennington 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
A friend gave me quite a bit of rough sawn walnut that was wrapped for years in bundles with duct tape. I have removed the duct tape and most of the wood is free of the residue, but those boards on the outside of the bundle suffer from streaks of duct tape adhesive residue.
I'm not sure how to handle prepping the wood. Should I run it through my jointer and planer risking damage to the planer/jointer blades, or sand the residue first, risking smearing it on the surface of the wood, or hand plane and stopping frequently to clean and resharpen the hand plane.
This new woodworker would appreciate some sage advice.
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the posts. I was afraid that Goo Gone would soak into the wood and cause a problem with the finish when i get to that point. The wood is not finished or planed, but rough cut. I don't think a card scraper will work on it, but I'll try that now.
Should I be concerned with my planer or jointer blades?
 
#8 ·
I use paint thinner if I want to preserve the surface. Otherwise a card scraper or pull-type paint scraper will do the trick. I would NOT used WD40 as it will stain the wood.
 
#12 ·
I have good results using mineral spirits for that. Most of my work pieces get wiped down with mineral spirits before finish. It gets out the fine dust and exposes glue and scratches. It won't hurt the wood at all.

I use a lot of double sided carpet tape on lathe projects. It usually leaves adhesive on the wood.
 
#14 ·
Dunno about goo gone, but be careful with acetone. Not because it will soak into the wood, but because it won't.
It evaporates extremely quickly. Even if it soaked into the wood, it would be gone in 10-15 minutes.
This is a problem because without an absorbent of some kind, the acetone may simply dissolve the residue and let it penetrate further into the wood, then evaporate.
 
#15 ·
Well guys, the mineral spirits worked great. I used a rag soaked in mineral spirits and rubbed the areas with the adhesive and it came off without too much trouble, even in the rough areas.
I can't thank you all enough for your suggestions.
I didn't try the acetone or other suggestions because the mineral spirits worked so well.
This is a great site.
 
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