Enormous Hawks-20 x 16 inch anyone know of a supplier ?

[jonnyhifi]

I plaster competently. I prefer using large floats (where I can) my favourites are 16, 18 and 20 inch marshalltowns. But I can't find a large hawk to lay on with a 16 or 18 inch easily.

My current (nice!) hawk is a 14 inch magnesium marshalltown, but it feels very small and restrictive (I can't really lay on with a serious trowel with this). I see 16 x16 inch ones are out there for sale but my eyes lit up seeing reference online to a Kraft Tool Aluminium Offset Plaster Hawk 20" x 16", and a similar marshalltown 212p hawk- large aluminium plasterers tradesmans hawk with adjustable DuraSoft handle. Size: 500 x 400mm (20 x 16in).

Both are discontinued, but I'd love to try one. Has anyone got one they are getting rid of, or old stock, or something similar they know of? Or indeed any observations as to how to lay on with a large trowel easily?

The increase in speed with larger floats is better than simply the apparent increase in size (same logic as paint rollers). The useful width of trowel is its width minus the overlap between pulls, so if you overlap 2-3 inches a 10 inch trowel only has a useful width of 7 inches : but a 16 inch trowel has a useful width of 13 inches : it's nearly covering double the area per pulland means you have literally half the number of lines left on the wall after each dry or wet trowel - not what you'd imagine. It's why 18 inch paint rollers obliterate silly 12 or 14 inch ones for speed.


Why large floats ? You cover larger areas faster, increasing what you can do in one hit, but most importantly : higher quality finish, as the "Average distance between ripple peaks and troughs" is determined by the size of the trowel, hence you always want to use the largest you can, similarly use the longest straight edge for pulling in ceiling lines/ corners, screeding off etc. Half the reason DIY plastering often ends up looking rubbish is because they're playing with 8 to 10 inch trowels, which have their place when work space is limited, but not for a wide open wall of ceiling. Hence you need of course a range of floats in your armoury from as large as possible, covering all sizes down to "a small tool".

 

[CBW]

If you can’t find one, maybe make one? Piece of plywood with an off cut of mop stick bannister rail for the handle?

 

[jonnyhifi]

To be honest I hadn’t thought of doing that which is pretty silly of me given before metal hawks this was a traditional thing to do. I do fancy a proper metal one however so I can ensure there’s no way I get bits in the plaster, lightness and durability …

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Buy a Marshalltown handle (stock item). Buy a piece of 1mm to 1.5mm aluminium cut to the size you need. Radius the corners with a file and smooth off the edged with fine sandpaper. Mark and drill the hold on the centre for a screw. Put a recess around that hole by sitting the aluminium on a sandbag and very gently (with light taps) forming the recess with the rounded ball end of a ball and pein hammer (a regular hammer and the cut off rounded end of a broom handle would do the same thing). Assemble.

BTW I am old enough to have been the young lad sent to make up plywood and broom handle hawks, spot tables (a spot board on legs) and even wooden bonding floats (cross grained or straight grained - and I still don't know why) always using a limewood handle supplied by the plasterer, and sometimes scratches (a wooden float with clouts through it at one end for those unaware). The carpenters used to do a lot of this stuff at one time - I even surprised a couple of much younger workmates a few years back by cranking out a float and a hawk to do a concreting job (we needed to get job finished urgently one afternoon in yhe absence of other trades). Being in their 20s they'd never seen this sort of thing done before and didn't have a scooby how to do it

 

[jonnyhifi]

Buy a Marshalltown handle (stock item). Buy a piece of 1mm to 1.5mm aluminium cut to the size you need. Radius the corners with a file and smooth off the edged with fine sandpaper. Mark and drill the hold on the centre for a screw. Put a recess around that hole by sitting the aluminium on a sandbag and gently forming thecrecess with the rounded ball end of a ball and pein hammer. Assemble.

BTW I am old enough to have been the young lad sent to make up plywood and broom handle hawks, spot tables (a spot board on legs) and even wooden bonding floats (cross grained or straight grained - and I still don't know why) usingbthe plaster's lime wood handles and sometimes scratches (a wooden float eith clouts through it at one end). The carpenters used to do a lot of this stuff at one time - I even surprised a couple of much younger workmates a couple of years back by cranking out a float and a hawk to do a concreting job (we needed to get job finished urgently one afternoon in yhe absence of other trades). Being in their 20s they didn't have a scooby how to do it

Thank you and how interesting ! Yes - it’s too easy to think one has to buy everything when actually one can make things that are useful !