Breaking in a plastering trowel
 

All,

Is there an alternative way of breaking in a new plastering trowel if you do not have the "luxury" of a significant amount of cement/sand rendering to do? Apart, of course, from spending £35+ on a pre worn in trowel which seems like a complete waste of money.

Iain

IainD wrote:
All,

Is there an alternative way of breaking in a new plastering trowel if
you do not have the "luxury" of a significant amount of cement/sand
rendering to do? Apart, of course, from spending £35+ on a pre worn in
trowel which seems like a complete waste of money.

Can't you just use it?

I'd have thought that unless you were already an excellent plaster no
one would be able to tell whether it was done by a virgin or broken trowel.


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I'd have thought that unless you were already an excellent plaster no one
would be able to tell whether it was done by a virgin or broken trowel.

I agree - in fact for my early attempts, I blame it on the fact that I
haven't worn the trowel in yet (nor the saw, nor the hammer, nor the
shovel...)


--
KEVIN BRADY, Oxford
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In article ,
IainD writes:

All,

Is there an alternative way of breaking in a new plastering trowel if
you do not have the "luxury" of a significant amount of cement/sand
rendering to do? Apart, of course, from spending £35+ on a pre worn in
trowel which seems like a complete waste of money.

Yes and No.

You can polish up the long edges on a house brick in the same
way you take a nick out of the edge. Place the edge on the
flat face of a brick, and use a motion as though you are trying
to saw through the brick to polish the edge. Keep the edge
against the flat surface, but vary the angle between the face
of the trowel and the brick face so you get the edge rounded,
and you keep it straight. When you have done that, drag the
corners across the brick face to round them off slightly so
they aren't sharp.

As for getting the spring into the steel, this just improves
with use, and there's no short cut.

--
Andrew Gabriel

IainD wrote:

Is there an alternative way of breaking in a new plastering trowel if
you do not have the "luxury" of a significant amount of cement/sand
rendering to do? Apart, of course, from spending ï½£35+ on a pre worn in
trowel which seems like a complete waste of money.

I borrowed a mates £31 quid Marshaltown SS pre worn trowel and
personally found it *very* much better than my wickes six quid special
even after I had broken it in. The difference was not only the fact that
it had been pre worn, but also that it was just very much better made -
light strong, and with just the right amount of "spring" (and to be
fair, the pre-worn one cost no more than the equivalent "ordinary"
marshaltown SS trowel anyway).

--
Cheers,

John.

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