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The simplest things are sometimes the most beautiful – plastering trowels fit that description perfectly. The tool is used as a smoothing device with a flat blade coming in various sizes, and a handle to operate. There are no extra bells and whistles or fancy automation on this one – a traditional piece that is worked manually. Something that does require a bit of labour in use, but certainly makes you feel accomplished after the job is complete.
The plastering trowel is used mainly for its namesake – plastering surfaces such as walls and floors and then smoothing them over. Other unique uses can include gardening for soiled surfaces to show off a perfectly curated vegetable patch, or smoothing over grout when tiling in a bathroom or kitchen. The trowel mainly applies to resurfacing your home floors and walls in DIY, to add an extra bit of polish and breathe some new life into your home.
While the plastering trowel is one of the more straightforward tools, you might think there aren’t many differences between them. Depending on the job you are tackling, there certainly are different pieces for the task. Some trowels are better at addressing surfaces such as concrete, and others are better for smaller DIY jobs like minor area plastering. Some trowels are even versatile enough to take it all on and bring a magnificent level of comfort. Never fear – we’re here to help you find the perfect plastering trowel for your DIY project.
Best Plastering Trowel UK
We’ve made a list of our favourite plastering trowels for all your DIY jobs at hand:
Marshalltown MPB145GSD 14×5-inch Gold Stainless Steel Plasterers Trowel
We’ll start with one of the trowels that gets the busiest in your DIY project, and one of our favourites. The Marshalltown MPB145GSD is melded together with golden stainless steel. The piece provides the strength needed to plaster and smooth most home surfaces and also looks brilliant in your toolbox. The design is bolstered with a broken-in shape to make sure lines, and ripple marks are all eliminated and is lightweight with a soft handle for comfort throughout usage. This trowel is more expensive at £49.81 but is a worthy investment for the all-around DIY enthusiast.
- Crafted from the highest quality hardened and tempered golden stainless steel to provide ultimate strength and durability.
- Broken-in shape eliminates line and ripple marks and allows you to use the trowel from day one.
- Aluminium alloy mountings are fully heat treated for strength and machine finished to ensure an ideal handle-to-post-fit.
Nela FLEX II 16 Trowel Gold Edition
Though similar to the above, the Nela FLEX II trowel takes a different approach to surface application. The blade covers a wide area, and double-bladed to ensure it’s strength. The trowel boasts multiple methods for smoothing over with rounded edges on the blade and special aluminium alloys being used to stabilize and easy handling on the tool. It’s another pricier piece at £45.05, but a product for the person who really enjoys a detailed level of smoothness on their DIY projects.
- Ergonomic Biko Cork Grip
- High Quality Stainless Steel Blade
- New High Secure Bond
OX Pro Ultra Flex Finishing Trowel
The OX Pro Ultra Flex certainly lives up to its name with a very flexible blade to address any surfaces that might be a bit awkward in nature. The trowel looks more to assist with user comfort, with a very soft grip handle to reduce fatigue when working. Balance is also a key focus of the item with a full fastened shank to give a superior feel when applying the trowel to your surface. The piece is reasonably priced at £35.35 and definitely suited for those who expect long working hours on their DIY project.
- OX Pro UltraFlex Finishing Trowel 14in / 355 x 110 mm
REFINA 228176N PLAZIFLEX 2pc Trowel & Blade
One of the more process-oriented our plastering trowel list is the Refina Panziflex. The trowel features two different blades, a plastic and steel one to manage the intricacies of applying plaster and smoothing it. The Panziflex looks to get the job done as fast as possible with a very smooth glide, and the ability to manage your projects when they are both wet and dry. Very reasonably priced at £36.99 considering its versatility, but not a trowel of strength. Much better for plastering with lighter material than stronger ones like concrete.
- Master Your Craft with Flexible Plaster Tools: Create precise results with our plastering trowel. The REFINA PLAZIFLEX trowel's design creates less drag, faster results, and unmatched versatility in tight curves. Swap blade sizes or easily replace damaged or worn blades using this trowel set’s interchangeable design.
- Perfecting Precision: Trust in REFINA trowel’s specialised flexible plastic. Elevate your projects with a plastic trowel that always delivers consistent, superior results.
- Work in Comfort: Experience a game-changing transformation in plastering with our lightweight plastic trowel for plastering. Achieve intricate details and swooping finishes without the plastering fatigue.
Ragni R318l Plasterers Finishing Trowel
One of the best budget plastering trowels available is the Ragni R318l. For the price of £15.14, the piece is very well balanced in terms of user-friendliness and decent strength. The knuckle clearance on this product is even superior to some of the more expensive ones. That being said, the trowel certainly has a bit more of a difficult time with harder surfaces and may hiccup a bit smoothing them over. If you are looking for a tool on a budget or you are new to DIY, this is the one for you!
- Tempered Carbon Steel Blade
- Comfortable ABS handle
- Unique Blade-to-Handle rivet bonding system
Marshalltown MXS73SS Stainless Steel Trowel
The Marshalltown MXS73SS is our pick of the bunch given its functionality in all plastering and smoothing projects. The best aspect is the piece is very well priced at £40.24. The stainless steel used to make the item is double layered providing the best strength, and ergonomically designed to grapple with harder surfaces for long periods. This trowel is very well thought out, and we’d highly recommend this one for anyone working in plastering from any skill set.
- Item length: 37.08 centimeters
Silverline 395016 Soft-Grip Trade Trowel Set
Our honourable mention of the Silverline 395016 fits the description of a simple product – but contains a set of trowels rather than just the one. At £13.99, it is very much a beginner set and geared towards handling soft surfaces such as soil in DIY gardening projects. However, it is perfect to learn the trade and build your skills in becoming a DIY master. The 5 piece set features a plastering trowel, as well as smaller trowels and detail tools to tackle the small surfaces.
- Hardened & tempered carbon steel blades
- Comfortable, soft-grip handles for prolonged use
- Contains the most popular trowels for common site requirements
How to choose the Plastering Trowel for you
Choosing the right kind of plastering trowel pends on two conditions. The first of them looking at your skill level, and the second thinking about what surface you are planning to work with. Most trowels will be used in home DIY projects, like plastering interiors to fix holes or make a better-looking wall or floor. The material used to accomplish this is aptly known as plaster and can vary in density to suit the task you are working on. Thicker plasterboard is a bit tougher to apply, where material containing more water is easier to work with.
Thick plasterboard is used to when your walls or floors are facing adverse conditions, and the thinners ones are used more as an extra layer of coating to paint on. There are many different types of plaster available – but the aspect to think about when choosing a trowel is its thickness. All considered, if you are an intermediate level DIY enthusiasts and are working with hard plaster, then you will need the stronger trowels. At a beginners level, we recommend looking at the more comfortable trowels to learn how to use them.
Getting the best out of your Plastering Trowel
We’ve listed a few of our favourite plastering trowels to get the wheels in motion for your plastering project. You may be wondering how to get the very best out of your new product as well. Everyone has a different technique and method of applying and smoothing. We encourage everybody to do what is comfortable for them, but here is how we get the best out of our trowels.
We always use a hard grip for the trowel to apply plaster to the hawk, or tool that holds your plaster mix. Put your thumb down on the handle and grip the rest of your fingers around it to get the best hold on it. This will help you to use the right amount of strength in picking up the plaster, angling, applying, and smoothing it out. This is where a soft and comfortable handle become important in a trowel.
Once your grip is sorted, the rest of the job is all in the motions. Get your plaster on the trowel, and swipe up swiftly from the bottom of the surface you are working with and veer off when you come near to the end of it. The quick, long and swift motions will apply your plaster a bit thin to allow full control over how much you want to apply to it. Depending on the type you are using, the amount of strength you’ll need to use may vary a bit – if the plaster is thick, you’ll really want to put some muscle into the motions.
We prefer the well-designed trowels with strong materials and comfortable handles to get the best our of our techniques though may not always apply to your projects. We’ve listed a few plastering trowels that apply to a spectrum of DIY projects light and heavy, and different skill sets of beginner and advanced. The simple tool provides a world of possibilities for achieving your DIY goals.
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