Cleaning floats and trowels for plastering

[george [dicegeorge]]

All my floats and trowels are coated with cement and rust,
but now i want to do some smooth top coats of plaster.

After scraping off the cement with a chisel and wirebrush
what should I do?

After using them I used to rinse them then leave them to dry.
Is there a better way of doing it?

Should I segregate top coat plaster tools away from any cementy work?

[g]

[NT]

On Jan 12, 10:50 pm, "george [dicegeorge]" <dicegeo...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

As you said, rinse & dry when you stop. At the end of each day, scrape
them on brick or concrete if theres anything still on them, that
cleans them up while its all still soft, and rub the rest off with a
scraper under running water.


NT

[Jules Richardson]

On Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:50:58 +0000, george [dicegeorge] wrote:
> After using them I used to rinse them then leave them to dry. Is there a
> better way of doing it?

I've always done that, but then dried them quickly with paper towel,
hairdryer etc. just so they don't get rusty.

cheers

Jules

[John Rumm]

For finish work I bought myself a marshaltown permashape stainless
trowel. Very nice to use, and no rust - just rinse clean when done ;-)


--
Cheers,

John.

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[harry]

On Jan 12, 10:50 pm, "george [dicegeorge]" <dicegeo...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

If I'm not using stuff like that for a while, I give mine a coat of
WD40.
Overnightish.Leave on a radiator.

[Moonraker]

My Uncle, who was a cabinet maker, dipped his chisels in varnish after
cleaning to stop rust, personally I wipe trowels with a little oil,
otherwise they go rusty if not used for a while.

--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

[johno]

> My Uncle, who was a cabinet maker, dipped his chisels in varnish
after
> cleaning to stop rust, personally I wipe trowels with a little oil,
> otherwise they go rusty if not used for a while.

For trowels etc I also use WD40, but for woodworking tools I use
beeswax polish, more like a creme really, but it does not stain the
wood the same as oil.

[Andrew Gabriel]

In article <jeno4i$j08$1...@news.enta.net>,

"george [dicegeorge]" <diceg...@hotmail.com> writes:
> All my floats and trowels are coated with cement and rust,
> but now i want to do some smooth top coats of plaster.
>
> After scraping off the cement with a chisel and wirebrush
> what should I do?

Plastering trowel needs smooth polished edges, and simply using
it maintains these. The face doesn't much matter. (Over the
years, the face of my plastering trowel and hawk have built up
a very thin layer of plaster which doesn't come off, but that
doesn't matter.)

If one of the edges gets slightly damaged, traditionally it is
polished back up on a brick face. Plasterers used to break in new
trowels by using them for rendering to start with (would lend
them to the renderer for a week). Nowadays, you can buy trowels
which don't need so much breaking in.

> After using them I used to rinse them then leave them to dry.

I always clean off my tools before it sets (at least, those
tools that matter). When plastering, you have to clean off
all your tools between each new batch of plaster anyway.

> Is there a better way of doing it?

Either dry by hand, or leave to dry such that the critical
edges don't sit in a pool of water. Store them indoors in the
dry, not out in a shed.

> Should I segregate top coat plaster tools away from any cementy work?

Not nececssary.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

[fred]

On Jan 13, 10:34 am, and...@cucumber.demon.co.uk (Andrew Gabriel)
wrote:
> In article <jeno4i$j0...@news.enta.net>,

Boeshield T9 is a better alternative to WD40 I.M.H.O.

[js.b1]

On ebay 120721841438 is stainless at about £8.69 delivered.

For plaster I would stick to stainless tools, inner & outer & float
trowels. It does not cost much more for stainless.

The cheap trowels are ok, they do distort into a bowl, will ripple if
provoked and do not like any miss-handling. They are ok for DIY use -
ie, do not expect to be using them commercially day in & day out.

[The Medway Handyman]

On 12/01/2012 22:50, george [dicegeorge] wrote:

> All my floats and trowels are coated with cement and rust,
> but now i want to do some smooth top coats of plaster.

Go and stand in the naughty corner. 100 lines "I must clean my kit
after use".

>
> After scraping off the cement with a chisel and wirebrush
> what should I do?

Brick cleaner, rinse off, WD40.

>
> After using them I used to rinse them then leave them to dry.
> Is there a better way of doing it?
>
> Should I segregate top coat plaster tools away from any cementy work?
>
> [g]

--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

[Mr Pounder]

"george [dicegeorge]" <diceg...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:jeno4i$j08$1...@news.enta.net...

I used to know a few *professional* bricklayers and plasterers.
They would turn over in their graves if they read your question.

[twotoneski...@yahoo.com]

From what i know on Facebook ,you can purchase leather trowel wallets , to help protect the trowel edges ,From what i understand at trowelwallets.com is you can add little oil to their case also to stop the trowel corroding,pretty cool i think as my mate has same issues .hope it helps !!

[Rod Speed]

<twotoneski...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8b3e6e03-58e9-452e...@googlegroups.com...

I hope he wasn't holding his breath waiting for your answer.

He might be a bit blue in the face by now.

I thought the stench was because he wasn't washing his feet,
but it is now clear that it was because he was holding his breath.