Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 6, 1995 TAG: 9511070008
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID DISHNEAU ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
``I don't understand that question,'' Jim Berg said solemnly. ``I've never taken duct tape off of anything. I only put it on things.''
Tim Nyberg pondered the problem, then brightened as he hit on a solution: ``You can tape over it.''
Of course! Add one more to the hundreds of uses these wise guys have found for the product they call ``the greatest adhesive known to humanity.''
In ``The Duct Tape Book'' (``The only duct tape book you'll ever need''), Jim and Tim list every application for ``the silver-gray wonder roll'' they could imagine. Tips range from the practical (``Pick up fuzz, lint and pet hair from clothing and furniture'') to the practically illegal (``Cat underfoot? Tape it to the ceiling'').
The sequel, ``Duct Tape Book 2 - Real Stories'' (``The other only duct tape book you'll ever need''), compiles helpful hints submitted by others. For example, when a damaged airplane wing stranded Stuart Green of Avon Lake, Ohio, at a Honduras airport, he produced a roll of duct tape that mechanics used to patch the hole.
``It ain't broke,'' Jim and Tim like to say, ``it just lacks duct tape.''
Their first pocket-sized volume has sold more than 150,000 copies for Pfeifer-Hamilton Publishing of Duluth, Minn., since it appeared last fall. Marketing manager Patricia DeLano is readying a big Christmas-time push for both books and hoping for combined sales of 1 million.
The authors, who prefer, in their chummy way, to be called Jim and Tim, wouldn't reveal their earnings from the books but said they hope to use the proceeds to put their kids through college.
``I was surprised by how many enthusiastic duct-tape users there are out there who are just majorly into duct tape,'' said Jim, a special-education teacher from Sturgeon Bay, Wis., during a stop on a recent Midwest book tour.
Tim, the more talkative partner, had previous literary experience. He and his wife, Julie - Jim's sister - produced a series of children's books, ``Jake's Unfolding Adventures,'' for Waldenbooks in 1989.
``I always expect stuff to do really well, and this is the first one that ever did,'' Tim said. ``It's like the overnight-success-in-20-years-type deal.''
Tim, 41, a free-lance writer and illustrator from Roseville, Minn., met Jim through Julie. The ``Duct Tape'' project began two years ago when the lights went out a family gathering and Jim, 31, joked he could fix the municipal power outage with duct tape.
``That led to more of his uses and all of a sudden I was typing away on my laptop, and in two days we had 365 uses,'' said Tim.
Several publishers rejected the manuscript, but at Pfeifer-Hamilton it struck a chord with editor and duct-tape addict Tony Dierckins. The concept was a departure for the regional publisher, which specializes in nature and new-age titles.
``Everyone, including me, said, 'We don't do this kind of book,''' Pfeifer-Hamilton president Donald A. Tubesing recalled. He said he relented after Dierckins duct-taped him to his chair.
Dierckins helped Jim and Tim winnow their taping tips down to 162 for the first book. He also researched a history of duct tape that appears in ``Duct Tape 2.'' It was invented in the 1920s at Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co., widely used by U.S. armed forces in World War II, embraced by furnace installers for sealing ductwork in the 1950s.
Jim and Tim say they've never actually used duct tape to tape ducts. They prefer more creative applications, like adding silver elbow patches to a favorite sport coat or securing the television remote control to the arm of your sofa so it doesn't get lost.
Dierckins said duct tape addicts tend to be men who get a sense of achievement from inventing uses for the sticky stuff.
``Duct tape gives them the ability to fix things without actually knowing how to fix things,'' he said. ``The pipe breaks and you don't have to be a plumber to save the day. You just use enough duct tape until it stops leaking.''
by CNB