Jump to content

Duct Tape Merit Badge


Recommended Posts

mailto:merit.badge@scouting.org to officially propose it.

 

Do the following:

 

1) Explain to your counselor the hazards you are most likely to encounter while using tape, and what you should do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, or lessen these hazards.

 

2) Show that you know first aid for, and the prevention of, injuries or illnesses that could occur while taping, including hair loss, skin irritation, overstressing tape, and exposure to hazardous sticky stuff on the tape.

 

3) Explain why taping your Scoutmaster to a wall is a bad idea.

 

3) With your counselor, discuss general safety precautions and Material Safety Data Sheets related to tape. Explain the importance of the MSDS and the new GHS.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3b) Explain why Duct taping the camp medic to his cot and transporting him to the roof of the health lodge is a bad idea.

 

4) Explain the motto, "Can't fix it, Duct it. Can't Duct it, chuck it."

 

5) Demonstrate repairing a woodpecker hole on a 40 foot high rappelling tower, wearing harness, brain bucket, and on a belay device (self or manned).

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6- Construct at least two useful gadgets from duct tape, one simple and one complex.

(NOT acceptable for completion of this requirement are the old-standy duct tape crafts: Belt, band-aid, or coffee cup.

 

7- Explain the history of duct tape, and contrast the properties of Duct tape, Duck tape, Gaffer's tape, and Gorilla tape.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just a little aside, the proper (and original) name for it is duck tape, not duct tape.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/02/magazine/the-way-we-live-now-3-02-03-on-language-why-a-duck.html

 

"The original name of the cloth-backed, waterproof adhesive product was duck tape, developed for the United States Army by the Permacel division of Johnson & Johnson to keep moisture out of ammunition cases. The earliest civilian use I can find is in an advertisement by Gimbels department store in June 1942 (antedating the O.E.D. entry by three decades -- nobody but nobody beats this column), which substitutes our product for the ''ladder tape'' that usually holds together Venetian blinds. For $2.99, Gimbels -- now defunct -- would provide blinds ''in cream with cream tape or in white with duck tape.'' "

 

(skip a paragraph)

 

"In 1945, a government surplus property ad in The Times offered 44,108 yards of ''cotton duck tape.'' The first citation I can find for the alternative spelling is in 1970, when the Larry Plotnik Company of Chelsea, Mass., went bust and had to unload 14,000 rolls of what it advertised as duct tape. Three years later, The Times reported that to combat the infiltration of cold air, a contractor placed ''duct tape -- a fiber tape used to seal the joints in heating ducts -- over the openings.''"

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some EXCELLENT ideas here!

 

 

>

 

 

I think this is a bad idea primarily because it will put the idea into the heads of your Scouts.

 

 

 

 

Part II:

 

 

What kind of recommendations and restrictions do you expect to find on the use of duct/duck tape in the Guide to Safe Scouting any day now?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Make a functional camp gadget out of duct tape and use it for 6 days and 4 nights.

 

Safety rules:

 

Ends of duct tape should be cut straight across with scissors and not torn by hand, which could lead to broken fingernails. Sheath knives may not be used for this purpose.

 

If duct tape is to be used on a wheeled cart, it may only be applied by an adult over the age of 18.

 

Duct tape may not be used in lieu of closed-toe shoes.

 

Canoes made of duct tape may not be used on running water and occupants MUST be swimmers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...