"F" wrote in message
...
Out stainless steel gas hob has been waiting to be installed for the last
12 months. It's day has come!

However, the kind man in the shop fixed the burner supports on with
Sellotape so they didn't move in transit (it was ex-display so no box).
Unfortunately we didn't remove the Sellotape until today and it's left
dried patches of adhesive on the stainless steel. I've got most of it off
with white spirit but there are still some marks.

Can anyone recommend something to finish the job? Or do I leave it to soak
in white spirit for a few hours?

Just don't do what I did a few months back when I was staying at a friend's
house while he was away. I found a couple of cheapo air fresheners lurking
under the sink and stuck one on the front of the brushed stainless steel
cooker hood with the self adhesive patch it came with. What an effing
nightmare that turned into. It smelled so horrible I decided to take it off
again but the bloody thing wouldn't budge. I was pulling so hard I feared
that either the hood was going to come off the wall or I was going to buckle
the metal and leave a convex dent in it. Anyway finally it tore free leaving
most of the adhesive and foam backing still glued firmly to the metal. I
scraped away at that for ages with my fingernails getting nowhere fast but
every now and then a tiny piece would 'pill' up and come free.

When I'd run out of both fingernails and patience I had a go with a nylon
dish scourer and some washing up liquid and eventually had the last of the
goo removed. It wasn't until I stood back that I saw to my horror that under
the glare of the kitchen lights the patch I'd been rubbing at was now a
totally different shade to the rest of the cooker hood. Most of it was the
original dullish matt brushed finish with this bright new silver shiny patch
beaming out from the middle of it like a mirror. Much effing and blinding
and pondering the situation later I decided the only option short of buying
him a new one was to try and get the whole thing looking the same so I spent
half the night stood on a chair with assorted bits of wire wool and scouring
pads going over 6 square feet of cooker hood until I'd roughened the new
patch back up a bit and polished all of the rest to match. Finally as dawn
broke I'd got it to the stage where unless you already knew what had
happened and exactly where to look it all had near as dammit the same
appearance and reflectivity.

Not a mistake I'm ever going to make again and I advise anyone who comes
across something with one of those self adhesive patches on it to bin the
bloody thing before they're tempted to use it.
--
Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines