In article ,
"Pecanfan" writes:
Well, I'm just about finished and I have to say, hats off to all plasterers
out there! All I can say is you must be very fit and very patient.

Anyway...

Wish I'd read this before buying 4 bags of the Knauf stuff... :-) D'oh!
Only bought it 'cause that's what everyone else seemed to be buying so I
(wrongly) thought it must be the product of choice. Oh well, live and
learn...

Anyway, after persevering with 1 batch of the Wickes/Knauf stuff (and
thinking my plastering technique was to blame) I eventually gave up, went
back to Wickes and bought the Thistle Multi-Finish instead. The Knauf stuff
would be OK for minor patching jobs etc. since the finish is pretty good
without polishing, but other than that it's the work of the devil. The
Thistle stuff is MUCH MUCH easier to work with (although it does go off
quicker so you have to work faster).

I also sharpened up / rounded the edges off my float, which helped a lot.

BTW, it's a trowel. A float is wooden or plastic (and "floats").

Never heard of this tip before - found it on he
http://www.goldtrowel.org/plastering-tips.htm. Before doing this I had a
big problem with trowel marks from the sharp edges of the float.

It's normally done on the flat surface of a house brick -- I've
posted details before. I wouldn't personally take a file to a
trowel. A plasterer would traditionally buy a new trowel and
give it to a renderer for a couple of weeks. The sand and cement
use will nicely polish up the edges and get the steel springy,
and then the plasterer takes it back and uses it on plaster.

--
Andrew Gabriel