Marshalltown Composite Hawk

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Retired Spread

Retired Spread

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Any spreads out there own,use and can recommend (or not) one of these hawks?
Seen them around,been um-ming and r-ring to get one as my magnesium boards' seen better days.

Cheers all!

Carl.
 
I keep a couple as spares , but i dont really like the feel of them , they do the job but ill stick to my marshaltown
 
Just had a hard day. Skimmed 2 lids over artex! phew!! Gonna get one of those fatigue reducing kraft hawks as my marshalltown has seen better days.
 
i dnt like them types of hawks i think its the noise it makes that annoys me, i only like the polyurethane hawks, does anyone else use these?
 
i saw then but also diddnt see the point in them to be honest so i never botherd trying them
 
Kraft Mag...nice wide handle (as mentioned) and what I have found to be; the strongest rivets, coming from someone who hates cleaning his hawk with his brush. After alot of bending and I banging off the floor all four rivets are still nice and tight...marshalltowns gets looser quicker I find. One draw bag (and it's a real annoying one) is the magnesium chips sometimes.
 
catfaces said:
Kraft Mag...nice wide handle (as mentioned) and what I have found to be; the strongest rivets, coming from someone who hates cleaning his hawk with his brush. After alot of bending and I banging off the floor all four rivets are still nice and tight...marshalltowns gets looser quicker I find. One draw bag (and it's a real annoying one) is the magnesium chips sometimes.
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I think you'll find that you're the problem not the Marshalltown hawk.
 
Yes I bought one of them large marshalltown handboard, hawk. for £5 at my local BQ cheap for some reason. It's to big
I will cut it down not sure why it has a sliding handle.
 
Why am I the problem? Because I don't bring my hawk to bed and tell it how much I love it then I must not be a true craftsman or some garbage like that? I don't have a mahogany cabinet dedicated to all the beautiful hawks i've had the pleasure of loading mud upon over the years? Bloody right then it's a square price of metal with a handle on it. I want it to either last a long time or be dirt cheap, kraft hawk is a pretty good compromise.
 
i made mine out of a sheet of aluminium lined perspex light as owt since i cant hold a full one anymore ,and just the job made a few for a couple plasterers i know
 
Its still a hawk henry :-) My old man had a home made hawk for years until a labourer dropped it off the scaffold and broke the handle off he went mental but appreciated a nice new mt hawk for a while.
 
catfaces said:
Why am I the problem? Because I don't bring my hawk to bed and tell it how much I love it then I must not be a true craftsman or some garbage like that? I don't have a mahogany cabinet dedicated to all the beautiful hawks i've had the pleasure of loading mud upon over the years? Bloody right then it's a square price of metal with a handle on it. I want it to either last a long time or be dirt cheap, kraft hawk is a pretty good compromise.
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I say you're the problem because if you just bend and bang your hawk on the floor to clean it then it's small wonder the rivets might go. I've used Marshalltown hawks for years and they take a lot of punishment when using S&C, I've worn a fair few out but I've never had one break other than the one a forklift drove over and I didn't think it fair to blame that on Marshalltown.
 
Bending and banging any tool is fine so long as it doesn't break, and better if it saves time (=money). Marhsalltown makes a good, comfortable, light hawk, I just prefer one that can take a bit more abuse....my kraft has lasted longer, and I would never expect any tool to be the same after getting driven over.
 
Essex is right, your tools earn you money, so look after them.My hawk and trowel are in mint condition, i hate build up on them,and at the end of the day, how long does it take to keep em clean.
 
My trowels are clean...so is my hawk...I just don't like using my splash brush to clean it; wastes time, dirties water bucket, and curls brush bristles. My hawk earns me the same money as any man's regardless of how much he loves it.
 
Catface get a churn brush to wash your handboard, I change my water bucket 3 or 4 times a day keep the water clean
easy.
 
Or scrape the worst of with a old scraper or gauger, then when you wash it it hardlys dirtys the water.The time that takes is less than it takes to bang the fucky out of your hawk every day, oh, then go and buy a new one cos you have broken the rivets.

No brainer really,sounds like you do`nt have one anyway.
 
Why do we have to get personal here? Don't go calling me brainless. I don't think there's anything stupid about seeing how much improper use a tool can take and using that as a barometer to see how well it will perform under ideal circumstances. I don't go around attacking my hawk with a jack hammer, and admittedly I don't treat it with as much care as I sometimes thing I should...but I can fairly and soundly recommend this hawk to someone who will take good care of if since it has survived my sometimes poorer treatment longer than any other.
 
And as to the other fair point about having a different brush for th
is purpose...yeah I used to do that but I work for other crews nowadays not myself, gotta keep busy, and after enough gear going missing I have become a firm believer in carrying as few tools as needed. One: brush, trowel, hawk, angle, margin, pointer, knife. Less you bring less you lose.
 
I always have a bucket for washing tools in and a seperate bucket for clean water for troweling up with. The best sort of brush to use is IMO a soft brissled hand brush from a dustpan and brush set. get into the habit of washing your hawk and trowel regularly until you don't even have to think about doing it.
 
Bumping old thread.. My MT handboard/hawk is looking more like a throwing star its that worn - though the rivets and handle are still nice and tight. It's been really good and seen many tons of sh1te loaded onto it. Not keen on the smaller 12" ones but will have a look around for a replacement as Santa may be bringing me one for xmas.
 
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