Finishing trowel or float?

[roy c]

a rendering float ( not one I myself would buy) , but a float ,non the less...

how about this one roy? click on the "click here" tab to watch a vid of it in use http://www.brickytool.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/28/products_id/983[/QUOTE]

Sorry Steve but I am afraid I am a bit "old school" when it comes to floating, I tend to use Stadium floats and when I get them I sand the corners off and sand the "pattern " off the float, if no sander then I will rub it on a concrete block till surface is nice to use. I tend to float up as soon as poss and sometimes give it a second float, If you look at that video the muck was too dry when he was floating it , and any way I will always sponge up after floating.... As you probably know you only need light pressure when floating and I tend to hold the float vertical with light pressure and always float with downward stokes. Interesting to see what the lads think...

so your technique is rub up twice with the float and then leave it off a sponge finish?

It depends on the size of the job Steve, sometimes theres not always time to give it a second float but if I can I do...Also a lot of my jobs involve other things aswell, like the last one I have just finished was on a 4 storey house and we had to knock the chimney off and rebuild most of it, replace lintols on all the bays on each floor, take out a fire escape and fibre glass the gutter and over the bay window, and cut out cracks and mesh and bring them back in. So I get a lot of variation around my rendering and plastering.. I have tried to load pictures on my album of that last job but cant get the pics to load, I will have to get the missus to show us again Must be an age thing.....

alright roy cheers let us know when you have managed to upload the pics

Am on to it now Steve but the putor keeps crashin' will have another go later...

 

[Micilin]

It's an American thing to call a plastering float a trowel.

I'd say it must be regional in the UK, it you have heard it called a 'float' by a plasterer.

In London, Southeast, Birmingham (and in Ireland) - the places I have worked since early 80s it is called a trowel.

In London and Beds , since the 60s at least (my Dads apprenticeship)it's been a trowel.

'Hawk and trowel' - that's the phrase everyone uses

Never heard a plasterer call it a float , which is the timber/fibreglss one above.

And as an aside, I too would rub up twice.

And when we learned to skim, we put the finish on with a float (wooden) and rubbed it up before trowelling it up

 

[peaps]

It's an American thing to call a plastering float a trowel.

I'd say it must be regional in the UK, it you have heard it called a 'float' by a plasterer.

In London, Southeast, Birmingham (and in Ireland) - the places I have worked since early 80s it is called a trowel.

In London and Beds , since the 60s at least (my Dads apprenticeship)it's been a trowel.

'Hawk and trowel' - that's the phrase everyone uses

Never heard a plasterer call it a float , which is the timber/fibreglss one above.

And as an aside, I too would rub up twice.

And when we learned to skim, we put the finish on with a float (wooden) and rubbed it up before trowelling it up

Look it up. I also have first hand experience.

 

[roy c]

It's an American thing to call a plastering float a trowel.

And as an aside, I too would rub up twice.

And when we learned to skim, we put the finish on with a float (wooden) and rubbed it up before trowelling it up

I was shown how to rub up with a wooden float and you could also bring the "cirapite" back with a drop of water the next day...

 

[Micilin]

Look it up. I also have first hand experience.

Look up what ?

I'm just saying it must be a regional thing in the UK , ie 'trowel' is not confined to the US, as evidenced by the posters here.

 

[Micilin]

It's an American thing to call a plastering float a trowel.

And as an aside, I too would rub up twice.

And when we learned to skim, we put the finish on with a float (wooden) and rubbed it up before trowelling it up

I was shown how to rub up with a wooden float and you could also bring the "cirapite" back with a drop of water the next day...

Yeah, you could put on the top of a house and it would come back with a rub

 

[peaps]

Look it up. I also have first hand experience.

Look up what ?

I'm just saying it must be a regional thing in the UK , ie 'trowel' is not confined to the US, as evidenced by the posters here.

You only have to look at the way webster defines a trowel and then ask yourself how many people purchase Marshalltown.

I have spent alot of time in America and the subject would always come up. The Latin meaning is to scoop...

If people don't even know the correct name for their tools how can you expect them to know what aggregate to use for each situation..?

 

[Micilin]

Look it up. I also have first hand experience.

Look up what ?

I'm just saying it must be a regional thing in the UK , ie 'trowel' is not confined to the US, as evidenced by the posters here.

You only have to look at the way webster defines a trowel and then ask yourself how many people purchase Marshalltown.

I have spent alot of time in America and the subject would always come up. The Latin meaning is to scoop...

If people don't even know the correct name for their tools how can you expect them to know what aggregate to use for each situation..?

Possibly the funniest post I've ever read...........

I must go round all the sites with a copy of Websters and tell the old timers to fall into line with our American cousins.

I'm attending the funeral today of the man who taught my father. It will be packed with old spreads. May just drop it into the conversation!

 

[peaps]

Look it up. I also have first hand experience.

Look up what ?

I'm just saying it must be a regional thing in the UK , ie 'trowel' is not confined to the US, as evidenced by the posters here.

You only have to look at the way webster defines a trowel and then ask yourself how many people purchase Marshalltown.

I have spent alot of time in America and the subject would always come up. The Latin meaning is to scoop...

If people don't even know the correct name for their tools how can you expect them to know what aggregate to use for each situation..?

Possibly the funniest post I've ever read...........

I must go round all the sites with a copy of Websters and tell the old timers to fall into line with our American cousins.

I'm attending the funeral today of the man who taught my father. It will be packed with old spreads. May just drop it into the conversation!

Your spin on what I put is the funny thing.

Put in a simple fasion just for you, Americans use the word trowel to discribe a plastering float and since Marshalltow are one of the biggest suppliers of plastering floats in the UK and they call it a trowel not a float, it seems to have caught on. It's not rocket science you know.

 

[Micilin]

Peaps, you've gone from saying 'if you call it a trowel, you can't be expected to know the correct mix' to 'it seems to have caught on'

All I said is that 'trowel' had been in use in England for over 50 years, and 100 years if the guys I spoke to today have their dates right. If you say float then it is obviously regional, not 'correct'. Nothing to do with Marshmaltown or the US ( these old school spreads used to use tyzack before marshalltown became popular. Latin did not appear to be their strong suit)


You are still saying it is a 'plastering float' just because that's what you call it

Wha't a dictionary got to do with it? these are word handed down for generations

We have roughcast, harling wet dash. Scud Spritz Spatterdash . Twitcher, Toucher, goesinto, angle trowel, dorner trwoel.

None of them wrong or correct.

And you still reckon that you would not trust someone who called it a trowel ?

 

[peaps]

Peaps, you've gone from saying 'if you call it a trowel, you can't be expected to know the correct mix' to 'it seems to have caught on'

All I said is that 'trowel' had been in use in England for over 50 years, and 100 years if the guys I spoke to today have their dates right. If you say float then it is obviously regional, not 'correct'. Nothing to do with Marshmaltown or the US ( these old school spreads used to use tyzack before marshalltown became popular. Latin did not appear to be their strong suit)


You are still saying it is a 'plastering float' just because that's what you call it

Wha't a dictionary got to do with it? these are word handed down for generations

We have roughcast, harling wet dash. Scud Spritz Spatterdash . Twitcher, Toucher, goesinto, angle trowel, dorner trwoel.

None of them wrong or correct.

And you still reckon that you would not trust someone who called it a trowel ?

What I think of a person who doesn't know his tools has nothing to do with the correct wording for a plastering float. But coming from a man who knows what a twitcher is ( corner TROWEL) I'm suprised you are arguing the toss over what you know is a float not a trowel.

 

[Micilin]

Peaps - you just said

"What I think of a person who doesn't know his tools has nothing to do with the correct wording for a plastering float"

Then why mention it when you say earlier

"If people don't even know the correct name for their tools how can you expect them to know what aggregate to use for each situation..?"


ie you would not trust someone who called it a trowel, to be able to do their job properly.

In other words, you are saying that thousands of tradesmen are 'wrong' and you are right

As I said, it's a regional thing, not a US thing.

S East England - plasterers who have been taught by other plasterers in a line going back to early 1900s. EVERY plasterer I have worked with from all over the country. They didn't use a dictionary or worry about the Latin origin of the word , they just used the word as handed down and taught to them. If it's been in use here for close to a century, then it's a de facto 'correct' use.

Same in Ireland, it's a trowel there too.

I've not worked in Derbyshire, but had a little search and it all seems to be trowel there.

eg

http://www.toolbank.com/148/p/FAISGFTSS

Perhaps you just don't mix with those people around you who call it a trowel ?

Why are you digging your heels in with this one - I just said that different UK /Ireland regions have different terms in the trade. Is that not a very reasonable point of view ?

Are you trying to somehow say that you are right and all the others are wrong ?

You know, I think you are too hard on yourself - it's okay to not to know everything