OK, am I the only one who chooses to not wrap my wood in tape? The only time I use tape is when I am cutting a wood that might burn like purple heart, hard maple or red oak or doing compound cuts. I have such a hard time seeing the clear tape to get it off. Pine and poplar and BB - I never put tape on it. I choose to use the blue painters tape when stack cutting.
OK Julie, I use the clear packing tape on woods that tend to burn like Cherry, Maple, Red Oak and on very hard hardwoods. I do not use tape on woods that are softer like mahogany, Pine, Walnut and Baltic birch. So what I am saying is I don't tape every project. Just the ones that might burn or could benefit from the lubrication the tape provides.
To address the problem of sawdust getting under the tape, when you apply the tape, make sure you don't leave any bubbles between the pattern and the
tape. I use a plastic putty knife to "burnish" the tape after it is applied. Run the putty knife along the tape to make sure the tape is tight against the pattern. That will help eliminate sawdust getting under the tape.
