I have always claimed – and not altogether jokingly – that you could build a house with Elmer’s glue and Duct Tape. Both items are readily available, relatively inexpensive and easy to tote around. I will set aside the Elmer’s for another time, though. Today, I thought it would be fun to look as some of the practical uses of duct tape around the house, camping and of course, in a survival situation.

First a bit of history

This miracle stuff was created during World War II when the US military needed a flexible, durable, waterproof tape to use making repairs in the field. A strong tape was created by Permacell, a division of Johnson and Johnson for this purpose. As the story goes, the GIs called it “duck tape” because it was waterproof – like a duck’s back.