Best way to use trowel

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skimmin2day

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Took the plunge last week and ordered a plastic finishing trowel ( refina).
Never used one of these before,but with so many saying how they save you time no need for water blah blah blah i bought one.
I got a 20m2 overboard and skim tommorow so was thinking about trying it on that.

so basically i could do with a few tips on geting the best result from it?
On first inspection the blade looks very square and thick so was thinking about reducing that for starters also it very flexible so im assuming you dont need to apply lots of pressure ? Also do you or dont you need to spray water ??
 
ive got one mate and i love it but just to get used to it ive carried on doin things the normal way then just used it to on the last pass finishes like glass with very little effort.
if you do your first trowel with normal trowel then cross trowel with the plastic one youll find you can get the final pass alot quicker with very little waiting around.
i want to get more cos i love em.
 
I love them also... I dunno whether it was my skimming skills but my walls were faultless and I was not out of breath or anything :-)

Well happy with mine :-)
 
Anyone got a link, as there's a few different ones on there.....You on about the one everyone was on about on here with the spongey bit and removeable handles?, or the bog standard see through ones on refina?
 
This is were i bought mine on ebay but it came direct from refina in dorset.

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steve whats the prob with the trowels then mate?dont they work? I know there is no real need for them,but i thought for the sake of a few quid id give em a shot.
Im almost as bad as oasis for buying useless s**t tools i probably dont need lol.
Still havent heard how to use them???
 
its not that they dont work in general. just not for me. i find them too flimsy and completely useless in corners and angles. i personally dont think they knock any time off a set and they get a nick in them way too easily.
 
all they do is polish it up nicer really and make it alot easier on your arm.
also they speed up a set if you trowel up with a ss trowel and brush you wet the wall and liven the plaster then pull fat off the wall this exposes the wetter plaster under the top layer which is drying out, the plastic trowels dnt need hardly any water thus not livening the set up again and dnt pull off loads of fat thus that top layer that is drying is still there drying out as oppposed to being washed off your ss trowel into a bucket.
i only use thew to trowel up with. i want a long one with the sponge backer to do rolled ceilins tryd one out the other week and because thier soo flexible you can not only trowel up a rolled corner up and down but left and right
 
I just thought id give it a try cus sometimes change is good !!!!!

I remeber my dad ( he taught me all i know) saying to me fcuk stainles steel trowels there useless to much drag blh blah blah but once worn in ther fine he also said fcuk stilts death traps wont ever speed things up witha broken neck planks and tresle will do us fine,but ive NEVER fell off em where i have severeal times of planks.
He said the same with spraying water as apposod to brushing out..why bother youll soak the gear and be waiting all day to trowel wrong !! He also said fcuk sponge float there to aggresive on finnish but under right circumstances there excellent.I told him im buying a plastic trowel for troweling up he said why bother son you cant beat carbon steel trowel of planks with a splash brush.I just chukkled to myself and said yeah right dad.
 
Being plastic do they wear down quick? I find the plastic floats wear out quick and seem better when they still got the diamond grooves on the bottom.
 
Love my 20" on ceilings.

Was told by a lad who been gettin them from the lad for yrs just use em for the final troweliing up stages when your finish is almost mint, although i use mine to flatten first coat as well.
 
20 " ok on totally flat boarded celings/walls personally i wouldnt never go above 13 inch and often use 11 " for second coating and troweling up less strain = more gain= no pain.
Try using a spat mate if you in that much of a rush it will fcuk ur wrists up and no good on work unless it totally flat as large trowel wont ride out uneven surfaces like a small one.
 
OK. Used the trowel yesterday seemed to do a very good job didnt use any water whatsoever and it just glided over no problems.I used from seond coat stage with 2 dry trowels only.
2 small observations i must point out though firstly it did leave very faint scratch lines although this could be becuse it was brand new also (didnt really bother me overly)
Also when using a steel trowel i like pull the trowel through on a arc like shape ( bad habbits) i notcied the plastic wasnt to keen on this and left very very faint lines after but if used straight was 100% perfect.
I was overall very impressed with it and will use a again and find out how to get the best from it.Good bit of kit i reckons.
 
The faint lines are there only if you take it straight out the box.... if you get some 1200 paper and give it a 5 seconds on the edges no probs with the scratches :-)

I also made the mistake of going up a bead with it.... that scratched the hell out of it but as soon as you realise that then you know not to do it :-)
 
I think thats what did it mate the ceilibg stagered down as part was suspended noticed it happening on the second part of ceiling so must have been from the bead ( cheers for the tip Danny).
I had good look at it today when dry really really impressed,would be brilliant to use on big runs on boards as yet to try it on reskim though.
 
4-5 weeks into using my first plastic trowel and the signs a positive , i still like the finish it gives over steel trowels , but ive noticed that tight into the corners of walls and ceilings you still need that bit more pressure you get from a steel trowel to get it flat early on in trowelling up stage , the trowel its self seems to be holding up ok not much sign of wear and tear and my arms dont feel as tried at the end of the day which i like , still think they can work well along side the steel trowel with great results .
 
Yep as churchy said, I don't know if it will replace steel but they are definitely easier to use :-)

Spunky, I lubed mine up before I slipped it in ;-)
 
you have to make sure the beads are cut nicely and keep an eye on the scratches on the trowel but it works ok around beads ,but i prefur to use a steel trowel on the reveals at the moment
 
church said:
you have to make sure the beads are cut nicely and keep an eye on the scratches on the trowel but it works ok around beads ,but i prefur to use a steel trowel on the reveals at the moment
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soo you have taken a product you know very little about and used it on paying customers homes.. fair play that’s brave of you.
 
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