Is there a particular brand of Gaffa tape or something which will differentiate it from that horrible tacky stuff that leaves residue?

I have done a search on "gaffa" and haven't found any advice.

Cheers in advance.

Change your search to Gaffer's tape and you'll do better:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/photon-management/63650-cheap-gaffers-tape.html

I just bought three rolls from The Tape Works (http://www.thetapeworks.com), not to be confused with Tape Works Texas. What they lack in web design they make up for in price. A 60 yd roll of 2" wide gaff tape was only $12.19.

Shaun:

Here is how much of a trivia geek I am. Gaffers tape has often been known colloquially in the U.K. as Gaffa. I only know this because Kate Bush has a great song called "Suspended in Gaffa" and I read an interview with her where she said the title came from Gaffa tape. Also, on U.K. sets, the term Gaffer is not used, the electricians are called Sparks.

Dan

Dan: Super cool! And to Ayesha, my response was meant in all seriousness. No implied sarcasm. I had ASSUMED that Gaffa was perhaps a brand name.

Once again this goes to prove the only real difference between North Americans and Brits is our common language! <tongue planted somewhat in cheek>

I like Tec-Nec, sold by Markertek.

So... um... yeah... anyone in the UK with a handy link on hand?

:D

Dan - in the UK "Gaffer" is used by everyone to mean boss, and is used in film/theater as here - our use derives from theirs. "Sparks" means electrician.

I never heard anyone but Kate Bush refer to gaffa.

What people use as gaffer tape variable in quality. The best stuff that I've come across in recent years is that supplied by Panavision and made by Scapa, although I expect other film industry suppliers sell the same brand.

PANAVISION (http://www2.panavision.co.uk/asp4/panavision2.asp)

It's not cheap, but the rolls are quite large.

A quick google found the manufacturers;

Scapa - Home (http://www.scapa.com/en/)

Gaffer Tape - Prokit (http://www.prokit.co.uk/index.php?view=product&product=gaffer-tape)

There's a paragraph at the bottom of this link about the derivation of 'gaffer tape'. Prokit reckon that it is derived from duct tape.

In my experience gaffer tape leaves less residue than duct tape, so presumably it has evolved into a sub category of duct tape in the wonderful world of tape.

Duct Tape is sometimes called Duck Tape. I suppose, for the same reason that Gaffer Tape is sometimes called Gaffa Tape ie people hear the word and spell it how it sounds when they write it down. This is even more likely to happen if you say it with a London accent.

I think I may go out now and do something in the real world. I'm not sure that it's healthy to be spending even a small part of a bank holiday writing in such detail about tape ;-)

Gaffer tape can also be a verb, as in, "Gaffertape that cord down before some jerk trips over it."

Duct tape leaves sticky crap all over your cords; gaffer tape does not. That's why it costs more.

Gaffer tape can also be a verb, as in, "Gaffertape that cord down before some jerk trips over it."

Duct tape leaves sticky crap all over your cords; gaffer tape does not. That's why it costs more.

In my experience, it's usually "Gaffer tape that cord down because some jerk just tripped over it..." <grin>

And not only does gaffer tape leave less residue (also see: sticky crap) on your cords, it is better suited to taping lights to things that you wouldn't think to tape lights to (usually using a Lowel plate specifically designed to do so).

And still you can find lots of "Gaffa" from Welcome - U.K. International Cyberstore (http://www.thomann.de/gb/) for really cheap if you ask me.
As there is that "Cinefoil" too.

T

I'm resurrecting this thread in order to get this off my chest:

Gaffer's tape is not duct tape. More specifically, Shurtape PC 622 is not gaffer's tape, and should not be sold as such.

I'm going to Iraq tomorrow, and I packed a camera, lens, microphones, batteries, chargers, media, support solutions - everything BUT the gaffer's tape. A two-hour trip to Raleigh produced a hardware store advertising gaffer's tape for a local TV station - but alas, gaffer's tape it was not.

Rant over, back to your regularly scheduled programming...

I was always taught by my mentors that the only real true and authentic gaffers tape was Permacel 665.

Sadly, the company was sold about 3 years back.

Such angst was generated that the Film Tools web site even posted an obit...

R.I.P. Permacel Gaffer Tape (1927-2007) The Filmtools Blog – Filmmaking Equipment & Industry News (http://filmtools.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/rip-permacel-gaffer-tape-1927-2007/)

The Shurtape stuff, I think, is still being sold. YMM (clearly) V.