Curved or flat?

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tried a permashape pre worn marshall town once and once was enough , no point using a banana to acheive a surface flat surface but opinions vary. In fact ss sucks as far as im concerned but if its all you know rock on and have fun. if i were you id definately start the way i mean to go and use flat because these permashape things leave sub standard work..........................good luck:rolleyes)
 
Well I don't know what was wrong with your Permashape trowel but those that I've used/use have been spot on. Yes they have the curve of a worn in trowel but the slightest pressure against any surface and it's making good contact along it's length barring the very ends, perfect.
Having said that most of my finishing is done with a carbon steel trowel.
 
Well I don't know what was wrong with your Permashape trowel but those that I've used/use have been spot on. Yes they have the curve of a worn in trowel but the slightest pressure against any surface and it's making good contact along it's length barring the very ends, perfect.
Having said that most of my finishing is done with a carbon steel trowel.
yeh you said any pressure on a flat suface and it makes contact the full lengh aprart from both ends,what is its not a flat surface ? theyre far to flexable and bendy
 
tried a permashape pre worn marshall town once and once was enough , no point using a banana to acheive a surface flat surface but opinions vary. In fact ss sucks as far as im concerned but if its all you know rock on and have fun. if i were you id definately start the way i mean to go and use flat because these permashape things leave sub standard work..........................good luck:rolleyes)

My old boss let me use his trowel once...it was like a dogs back leg....the left side of the toe....well it was like a frigging toe mate rounded and sticking out like a soar thumb...hang on a sec...toe hahahaha.

He called it his 'money' trowel hahaha...fooking great, but hell i couldn't use it...him...best finish ive ever seen.
 
the best to use would be ur own worn in trowel and no1 elses, after a while it will shape to ur own with pressure and style of application ect, also if u have a wooden handle and have it long anoth u can wear the wood down to almost have worn in spaces for ur fingers and thumb lol
 
The problem with a flat trowel is that they take an age to break in and then when they are broken in if you look down the length of them they are slightly curved. The permashape just makes it so you can use the trowel after a quick rub on a stone. Another benefit of the permashape is that you get a guarantee that they will not go the wrong way, something to do with the steel, and flat trowels can go the wrong way.
 
The problem with a flat trowel is that they take an age to break in and then when they are broken in if you look down the length of them they are slightly curved. The permashape just makes it so you can use the trowel after a quick rub on a stone. Another benefit of the permashape is that you get a guarantee that they will not go the wrong way, something to do with the steel, and flat trowels can go the wrong way.

There seems to be a misconception regarding MT trowels. They are all Permashape, even the flat ones :)
 
Sorry Minh but that's not right, they're not all Permashape.

All of their plastering trowels are Permashape, regardless of whether they are banana shaped or flat. Their high carbon steel trowels or other concrete trowels may not be Permashape but I assumed we were refering to plastering trowels :)
 
Not according to the official Marshalltown website, even the Permashape trowels are listed as being for concrete finishing. They still make the bright stainless finishing trowels we were all using before Permashape trowels came along, such as the MXS4SSD.
 
Yer has a curved permashape for about 3 years good trowel now, ordered a flat one thou to give it a go

youll probly have a nightmare when you first use the flat trowel ian but rest assured youll have much better results when broken in and mastered. ive employed many plasterers who use these permashape trowels and when going over their work its a nightmate as they dont leave a true flat surface although its smooth and pleasing to the eye its not FLAT . Permashape is the easy option which seems to be many plasterers choices lately.
 
Lol if you can't get a flat finish with a perma your doing it wrong! Mines like a snooker table, it's how you put it on and flatten what counts
 
But they're right Haggis man. If the quality of my work had dropped when I first used a Permashape trowel then I'd have launched it, the same as I have with other tools that turned out to be crap.
 
The problem with a flat trowel is that they take an age to break in and then when they are broken in if you look down the length of them they are slightly curved. The permashape just makes it so you can use the trowel after a quick rub on a stone. Another benefit of the permashape is that you get a guarantee that they will not go the wrong way, something to do with the steel, and flat trowels can go the wrong way.


My old gaffa bought a permashape and took it back a week later. Had bent completely the wrong way.
 
Permashape might trowel flat once the gear's stiffened but they don't put it on flat. Haggis is right.
 
Have been using my old Tyzack double hang steel trowel since I was about 18 (I'll let you work that out) and it is bloody great. However, I purchased a new Marshalltown pre-worn one and used it for the first time the other day and was really impressed. As it is much bigger it smoothed all the lines out a lot quicker and with much less effort.
 
Have been using my old Tyzack double hang steel trowel since I was about 18 (I'll let you work that out) and it is bloody great. However, I purchased a new Marshalltown pre-worn one and used it for the first time the other day and was really impressed. As it is much bigger it smoothed all the lines out a lot quicker and with much less effort.
Surprised that a trowel lasted thirty years, I used to wear a Marshall out in less then five,
 
I am sure u can plaster a wall flat with a curved trowel when the trowel is at an angle it only the last have inch both ends that doesn't touch the wall.all old trowels that worn seem to bend that way any way
 
Permashape might trowel flat once the gear's stiffened but they don't put it on flat. Haggis is right.

nope yr wrong, its easy to get the wall virtually perfectly flat on second coat with a perma, i put on with a 5yr old perma and trowel up with an 11yr old.
 
it doesn't make any difference then?

Not to me.

nope yr wrong, its easy to get the wall virtually perfectly flat on second coat with a perma, i put on with a 5yr old perma and trowel up with an 11yr old.

I should have added when new. The reason you can get it flat is because your trowels have worn to cater for the bend in them, more in the middle than the edges.

I'm not wrong, it's impossible to put on wet gear with a bent object as rigid as a standard new permashape.

I've a question for you. Why do we use straight edges and not bent ones?
 
Because you dont trowel up hardwall? Have you lost the plot lol what difference does it make in the laying on stages
 
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