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Tips & Techniques

Flashing-Tape Cutter

If you don't have the size tape you need, build this slicing tool with scrap boards and a utility knife.

Issue 328 - Dec/Jan 2024
Drawing by Martha Garstang Hill.

If the suppliers near you don’t have the exact size flashing tape you need, then cut your own. All you have to do is build a tape-slicing contraption like this one. First, use scrap boards to build a simple three-sided channel that is a little wider than the roll of tape you want to cut down.

The bottom of the channel should be longer at the dispensing side of the contraption. Cap off the dispensing side with a board, leaving a gap at the bottom for the tape to slide under. Insert a dowel through the center of the roll of tape to hold it in the channel at the open, opposite end.

Tap your utility knife (with the sharp blade facing the roll) to set it into the wood base at the location where you want to slice your tape. Then just clamp or fasten the contraption to a solid surface, and pull the tape past the blade of the knife.

— Cody Romer; @CRCarpentryRemodeling

From Fine Homebuilding 328

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