View Full Version : Trowel Cleaning (pros)
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igneous
How many trowels do you average a month? A year? What is the best way to clean them? What brand do you use?
We usually clean ours throughout the day (once before lunch, once at the end of the day) by sponging them off. This tears up sponges and is generally not much fun. We also tend to go through quite a few trowells because, inevitably, something happens that they don't get wiped off, or the "rookie syndrome" takes hold of the help at quitting time and thereby sabotaging our tools. It's a conspiracy. I'm sure of it.
I usually grind them off if this happens. Which is also not much fun. Oddly enough it's never because they are incredibly caked at the handle but because the weld at the shank and base fails. Lately it's been Kobalt trowels and a brand that The Tile Shop carries, but I forget what it is. We average a new trowell after about 3 months of use? Maybe? That could be accurate. Some probably last more.
I'm waiting for some pre-mortar treatment that you wipe or spray on that won't allow the mortar to stick. Hmmm.....
Brad
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koihito
I clean my trowel every time I mix a bucket of mud. When a trowel becomes worn I mark it with a sharpy and recut the notches with a grinder. They last for years this way. In ten years I have tossed maybe two trowels because they had been recut to many times. I clean all my tools at the end of every day, no exceptions, and clean the box truck every friday (no exceptions). New construction or remodel I also make sure that everything in the home is as clean or cleaner than when I got there (no exceptions). No trash left, everything swept, vacumed and looking like we've never been there (except that magic tile gnomes have done great work while no one was looking) I veiw this as part of the job, if it takes 30-45 min. to clean up and we are leaving at five, we start cleaning at 4:45. I've fired help before because they could not keep a clean job!
Maybe I have a mental imbalance, but my customers appreciate that I treat their home like it was my home. I'm done ranting now.....
BTW, WD40 will keep morter from sticking to metal, but it's a booger to get thinset out of a bucket neatly when it just slides off....Ive tried....
Hamilton
I will echo what nathan said. i clean my trowel each time a make a new bucket
of thinset. Sometimes on hot days i will clean it more often. my usual go to
is to throw the trowel into a bucket of water while I mix a new bucket of
pookey and scrub it down with a scrub brush before i get started combing again. BTW this is more suited for the pros hangout so im gonna go ahead
and move it over. Besides you will get more responce from other pros in
da hangout ;)
duneslider
I second the cleaning. I scrub the bucket down and the trowel everytime I mix a new bucket. Any help that won't keep my stuff looking new won't be my help. I tried the wd40 once too. Only once! I also use a scrub brush. It always ends up getting lost but then I clean the truck out and it is found. I haven't recut a trowel. Seems like a lot of work when new ones can be had for ten bucks. I also have been using the Kobalt trowels lately and quite like them. I haven't had any fall apart yet unlike customs trowels.
Bryan
Autoplay
WD-40 good for levels etc. What no-one has mentioned,which I will and then climb back under my rock is.....I have now n then use an old Alpha polishing pad on levels(metal 1's) to dress em up. Maybe it can be used on other metal things like trowels etc?
Oh,just pictured another market/invention....a trowel that never wears out. Maybe something that wears forever?
Laterz
Shaughnn
I scrub my trowel at the end of every day with a bucket brush and usually just scrape it and sponge it during the day. If I have to leave the trowel for a length of time, I'll toss it into a bucket of water.
I try to only buy Marshalltown trowels, but there are times when I've needed a size and forgot to grab it from the house. So, then I'll buy whatever brand is available and throw it into the pile when I get the chance to pick the Marshalltown. This has left me with a huge collection of lesser-brand trowels that fills several plastic tote boxes. One day, I'll have a garage sale and rid myself of these cast-offs.
Shaughnn
TGR
I keep a heavy-duty green scotch brite pad in my water bucket. It cleans tools and buckets with ease. Also when my trowel teeth get shallow I have been known to put the thing in the vice and deepen the teeth with a 3/16 round file. That's what I do''''.Todd
Shaughnn
Hey there TGR,
Try a bucket brush instead of the scotch-brite pad, it's safer. I used to use a doodle-bug pad until a 1/4" V-notch left me with 9 stiches across my thumb. Thankfully, it was the end of the day. :D
Shaughnn
jdm
So Shaughnn, you actually dragged a pile of trowels that you don't and won't use from San Francisco to Seattle?
Used tools fetch a better price in Washington?
Shaughnn
Not only did I drag a pile of tools that I don't want all the way up the coast from California, but I went out and paid good money for totes to carry them in safely. :dunce: I'm just not the "garage sellin" type of guy, I suppose? Jeff, you want a few worn down Superior-brand 1/4"x1/4" notches????
Shaughnn
Hamilton
Todd im a bit more impatient when it comes to resetting the depth on
my trowels. i measure and draw a line across my trowel and use my
makita grinder. makes quick work out of fixin a trowel. Its a good idea
to have some goggles on... i went to the doctor once and had some
metal drilled out of my eyeball. never again :cool:
Hamilton
Shaugnn those worn out 1/4's make nice mastic trowels.... you know
for those times you can actually use the stuff of course :twitch:
jdm
Shaughnn --
Maybe you can donate those trowels to Mr. Gobis.
Or, come to think of it, those worn 1/4 x 1/4s might be perfect for installing Ditra.
Shaughnn
If Dave want's to cover shipping, I'd be happy to oblige. :D
Shaughnn
koihito
Autoplay,
Not just clean, but shiny too....I like that! Now back under your rock!! :stick: :whip:
Duneslider,
Your right, it's not moniterily advantageous to re-cut trowels; but I'm a freak and can't help it. Must..... not..... waste.......
duneslider
I usually use the worn out ones for mastic or some other area that doesn't need the nice new trowel. I really should try cutting one with the grinder. I might like it. I also use the worn ones to spread wood filler, the flat side works great for that.
Bryan
jdm
Brian --
Are you talking about the paste wood filler used to fill the grain pores to achieve a mirror-like finish on fine furniture?
duneslider
It is kind of like a paste. It is called trowelable wood filler. It is used to fill wood floors. I don't usually put a mirror finish on floors but I imagine that there would be better fillers for that type of finish. This stuff is basically sawdust with some sort of hardener.
Bryan
scott anthony
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit china painting masking mould manufacturers.
WD-40 on the trowels back side to start the day. Same for the saw. They clean up much easier at the end of the day. I clean my trowels every other bucket.
When the notches are wore down I keep grinding them a bit deeper until I get the knuckles in the mud to often. My last trowel lasted my sq ft.
opiethetileman
I buy trowels by the case. But call me weird but in the workshop I have a old dishwasher I use to clean trowels and my spacers and other tile reuseable tools. But If its a big job and I am going on concrete i usually toos the trowel at the end of the job or take to the wheel and make me a flat trowel out of it. I have lots of flat trowels now.
Shaughnn
Opie,
We know you've got a camera and that you know how to use it. I want to see a photo of this trowel washing machine, please. :)
Shaughnn
opiethetileman
ok do you want me to get inside while its running and give you a word by word play of my head tumbling. i have to go out there sun to the compound will take some pics just for yous pirate. heres another one I worked the other day a long day hung 15 sheets of 1/2 sheetrock and taped and mudded it in. then drove to the other side of town about 35 miles to a flipper house of mine slug in over 625 ln feet of 4 inch crown. i got tired of moving the ladder so i installed some wheels on the bottom of the ladder to GET R DONE. geesh i get so bored i have to play with myself sometimes.
jdm
Opie --
By the time you get your dirty trowels home to your trowel-washer, the thinset must be pretty well set up. You run muriatic acid through that machine?
And wouldn't the 50 cal get the thinset off of those trowels? :D
Hamilton
Sometimes when my trowels get that thin layer upon layer of film buildup
ill take my grinder again and use it to clean. Leaves alot of scratches
but the thinset doesnt talk back to a tile blade at 10,000 rpms.
giarc25
The sales guy at the local tile store told me it would be best to start fresh with a new trowel on every job, so he sells a lot of 'em. I didnt know you could clean 'em....just think of how much money that would save!! :D
Hamilton
Sounds like a typical salesman :deal:
T_Hulse
If you're carefull about keeping it the bucket whenever you're not using it you can get away with just a single cleaning at the end of the day. Hose gets 95%, sponge gets the rest easily. :)
giarc25
I use a painters razor scraper, and just scrape it off whenever the thinset starts to get a little crusty. When I am doing big jobs, usually just clean it at the end of the day since it dont have much time to sit around and dry.
Great British Tiler
Trowels get cleaned at lunch and at the end of the day, then every friday all the tools I've used that week come off the van, are jetwashed and WD40'd! On breaks I leave any trowels in a bucket of clean water.
Rubi trowels have a special coating so they don't rust up. I've had a set of these for 2 years now and they still look like they're about a week old. Nice and shhiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnny :)
giarc25
Originally posted by Great British Tiler:
Trowels get cleaned at lunch and at the end of the day...
What is lunch? I am unfamiliar with this term? :shrug:
Great British Tiler
Sorry there C3PO, its what we humans like to do at around half past 12 every day involving the consumption of food and beverages. Don't you guys say lunch? Or was it just sarcasm revolving around the fact you don't have time to eat?! Rome wasn't tiled on an empty stomach I'll have you know.
giarc25
Yeah, it was sarcasm...I usually find myself so involved with the work that I dont have a standardized lunch schedule. I guess I can do that though since I dont have any employees. I usually just take my lunch to work with me and eat inbetween buckets of thinset, or whenever opportunity knocks.
Shaughnn
Lunch: What I usually do on the way home after work. :)
Shaughnn
Great British Tiler
No no no, thats 5s's.......not long after 3s's, but dont forget 9s's and 11s's. very important to maintain a healthy trowel. :nod:
customceramicsllc
english wit at its worst :bonk:
giarc25
I guess trowel cleaning also depends on what type of material you are using. When I am using mastic, I clean my trowel about once every couple of hours.
luxurytile&stone
Craig you shouldn't have to clean mastic off your trowel!!! MASTIC....Just say No!!!! :shades:
Great British Tiler
John, :tup1: keep up the good posts. American sarcasm at its lowest.
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used acid on mine waterd down came up atreat accept 1 it fckd the spine of it up it crumbled it a bit dnt no why but i wus guted had it since my first day at wrk only use it for final polish now she gon real thin. oh and i only ever use water on her. bless. oh and the new worn in ones diferent grade of steel. so they never cum up the same
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