scmrak's Full Review: Marshalltown Trowel Company Marshalltown Trowel No...
It's amazing to me some times how many specialized tools there are stashed in my workshop; a legacy of having owned four different houses over the years (two over eighty years old) and doing a lot of my own work. Heck, there are at least ten different trowels in my box labeled "flooring and masonry tools." The reason is pretty simple: the trowel you use depends on what you want to stick with what adhesive. There... that explains why I have a bunch of trowels with different-sized teeth!
There are trowels with square, triangular, and U-shaped teeth; the Marshalltown 16250 V-Notch Trowel has triangular teeth in a pattern that's rendered as 3/16" x 5/32" - which means that the teeth are isosceles triangles 3/16 of an inch point-to-point and 5/32 of an inch deep. The trowel is four inches wide and nine inches long. One long and one short side are toothed and the other two are straight; the flat steel trowel is mounted to a black plastic handle shaped like an oversized drawer pull. That handle is textured to improve the user's grip.
Unlike some brands, the two toothed edges are not set at right angles: the short side is set at a 100-degree angle, which allows greater maneuverability than a straight rectangular shape.
The tooth size and shape of this V-Notch trowel are designed for use in mounting wall tile - ceramic, plastic, or metal. The flat edges are used to apply a thin coat of adhesive, and then the saw-toothed edge acts like a comb to stripe the adhesive over half of the surface. This allows the entire back side of the tiles to contact the adhesive when pressed against the wall - you need that on vertical surfaces.
Cleaning the trowel depends on the adhesive used - organic adhesives clean up with warm water if not yet dried, thinset mortar is a different beast; but at only a couple of dollars each you may decide to buy a new trowel for each new job. If you're careful to keep the notches clean, however, a trowel can last for years. This one's made of thin, slightly flexible rolled steel, which means that it's prone to rust if not dried after cleaning and stored in a dry place. Any leftover adhesive can be scraped off, though that seems like a lot of effort for such an inexpensive tool (and the teeth are hard to clean, too).
There are many different sizes and configurations of trowels. The choice of trowel depends on the application: adhesive type, surface orientation, and material to be set - vinyl tile, cove base, sheet flooring, engineered wood floor, and ceramic tile are examples. The type of material being installed will usually dictate the adhesive; consult the adhesive packaging to determine the trowel configuration needed.
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9" x 4", V Notched Trowel, Single 3/16" x 5/32" V Notch, Toe Of Blade Has 10 Degree Angle With Black Plastic Handle, For Plastic, Ceramic & Metal Wall...More at Amazon Marketplace
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