Figure 7-13.—Plasterting hawk.Figure 7-14.—Plastering floats.of plaster. The pointing trowel, 2 inches wide and about10 inches long, is used in places where the rectangulartrowel doesn’t fit. The margin trowel is a smaller trowel,similar to the pointing trowel, but with a square, ratherthan a pointed, end. The angle trowel is used forfinishing comer angles formed by adjoining right-angleplaster surfaces.HawkThe hawk (fig. 7-13) is a square, lightweight sheet-metal platform with a vertical central handle, used forcarrying mortar from the mortar board to the placewhere it is to be applied. The plaster is then removedfrom the hawk with the trowel. The size of a hawk variesfrom a 10- to a 14-inch square. A hawk can be made inthe field from many different available materials.FloatAfloat is glided over the surface of the plaster to fillvoids and hollows, to level bumps left by previousoperations, and to impart a texture to the surface. Themost common types of float are shown in figure 7-14.The wood float has a wood blade 4 to 5 inches wide andabout 10 inches long. The angle float has a stainless steelFigure 7-15.-Straightedge and featheredge.Figure 7-16.-Darby.or aluminum blade. The sponge float is faced with foamrubber or plastic, intended to attain a certain surfacetexture.In addition to the floats just mentioned, other floatsare also used in plasterwork. A carpet float is similar toa sponge float, but faced with a layer of carpet material.A cork float is faced with cork.Straight and Feather EdgesThe rod or straightedge consists of a wood orlightweight metal blade 6 inches wide and 4 to 8 feetlong (see fig. 7-15). This is the first tool used in levelingand straightening applied plaster between the grounds.A wood rod has a slot for a handle cut near the center ofthe blade. A metal rod usually has a shaped handlerunning the length of the blade.The featheredge (fig. 7-15) is similar to the rodexcept that the blade tapers to a sharp edge. It is used tocut in inside corners and to shape sharp, straight lines atoutside comers where walls intersect.DarbyThe darby (fig. 7-16) is, in effect, a float with anextra long (3 1/2 to 4 foot) blade, equipped with handlesfor two-handed manipulation. It is used for furtherstraightening of the base coat, after rodding is7-13
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