Old school trowels

malc said:
i do have a couple of Tyzak banding tools for creating the half rounds around a render panel.

when i first saw a marshalltown 14" trowel i had to drive to London to be able to purchase one. the other plasterers called it a sword .

archie o'connell took one look at the marshalltown and said i want a couple of hundred of them so that all my day workers will have one to use . archies plasterers got the union to stop him doing this because on the box of the marshalltown trowel it stated it was a cement finishing trowel and they as plasterers would only use a 11" plastering trowel.
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They are a fickle bunch :-)
 
Cornelius said:
I was saying about the 12 inch mt I’ve got but I can’t get used to it , 14 inch is best for me
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Have you tried a 13 inch instead, I dropped to that from 14 2 years ago and never touch 14 again, maybe horses for courses but I gotta feeling 13 is for you mate, the ox Carbon I got while back is 11 or 12 does feel just slightly to small tbh
 
Vincey said:
Have you tried a 13 inch instead, I dropped to that from 14 2 years ago and never touch 14 again, maybe horses for courses but I gotta feeling 13 is for you mate, the ox Carbon I got while back is 11 or 12 does feel just slightly to small tbh
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I’ve got 13 and 14 not much in it I like both, I went up to 16 a few years ago which was good but for some reason I went back down again 16 was too big for rendering but good for skimming.
 
Worked alongside a gang last year on a big float and set job and they were putting away some decent meterage using 11inch mt’s , so it’s not essential to have a big trowel to keep up. I’ve got a nice 13 inch Refina premium and a 14 Nela premium, prefer the 14 I think it goes better with my 14x14 mt hawk.
 
Cornelius said:
Worked alongside a gang last year on a big float and set job and they were putting away some decent meterage using 11inch mt’s , so it’s not essential to have a big trowel to keep up. I’ve got a nice 13 inch Refina premium and a 14 Nela premium, prefer the 14 I think it goes better with my 14x14 mt hawk.
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Float and set is meant to be applied with a small trowel @essexandy mentioned it in the past (i think) something about compressing the gear better :D
 
Danny said:
Float and set is meant to be applied with a small trowel @essexandy mentioned it in the past (i think) something about compressing the gear better :D
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As you say Danny, well almost, all backing coats are supposed to be applied firmly to the substrate.
You don't have to be a genius to realise that you're going to have to apply more pressure on a 14in trowel than an 11in.
I had no end of guys come to work for me and they just couldn't believe the speed I could wack S&C on the wall with seemingly little effort. It's all about speed of hand.
I can think of three guys that when starting with me used trowels of 13in+ and after a while we're using an 11in. All were getting just as much work done once used to their new trowels and to a man said that the lack of strain on their bodies was noticeable.
 
Tried the 12 inch mt today, just don’t like it way too small for me. Didn’t feel right in the hand but didn’t notice it was particularly slow just not my cup of tea.
 
Christ we must have been really bored during the holidays if the most popular thread was about old trowels..
Some great responses though lads .
 
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