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by Peter Brett - Dec. '08/Jan. '09
For more information call Christine
01444 440188
01444 440188
Traditionally Custom Built
You might think so until you start talking to professional bricklayers and then you will find that their trowels, as the most important tool of their trade, have to have a long list of attributes. For some bricklayers, they buy new trowels long before their old ones are worn out, just so they can gently customise them.
Tools of the Trade and Italian trowel maker, Ragni have made a very serious and sustained effort to find out exactly what professional brickies need in a trowel. The result is the Ragni Crown Range - aimed at the demanding professional who knows exactly what he wants.
So exactly what did professionals users want? In no particular order the results showed the following:-
a) comfortable, non-slip handles.
b) could cut bricks if needed.
c) had good balance.
d) were forged rather than fabricated.
e) were slightly flexible.
f) available in different sizes and patterns to account for individual tastes and states of health (tennis elbow is an occupational hazard for bricklayers).
Tools of the Trade generously sent me a package of trowels to test, but being a bodger at best in the bricklaying trade, I farmed the trowels out to various professionals and sat back and waited for the reaction.
The very first comments I received from every professional were about the handles. They all loved them. Even the left-handed brickie didn’t feel put out. This is a result of the newly-designed non-slip grip on the Ragni. The handle, made from a tough rubberised material, is shaped and breasted. This shape will not slip in the hand in the way that a traditional round-shaped handle will, especially in a wet or cold hand. They also commented on the way that the moulding fits down the handle stem to form a finger protection. It keeps wet fingers away from sloppy mortar as well as providing a little extra grip. The hard end handle butt for tapping bricks into place got a passing mention too.
I did a lot of bricklaying 25 years ago when traditional designs were the only designs available, but even I was able to appreciate the handle design myself when I was given the opportunity to lay a row or so of bricks on one of the professional’s jobs.
Next in line for praise was the slightly flexible blade. This is a feature of both the London and Philadephia Pattern trowels and is made possible in part by the forged construction of the blade.
Forging allows the whole trowel to be made from a single piece of steel and then for the blade to be ground and tempered to the desired flexibility. Fabricated trowels have to have handles welded to blades and most of the time this works OK, but can lead to the weld being broken if the trowel is used to cut bricks for example.
The balance of the trowels was next for professionals’ comment. This is where individuals make personal choices and where it is important for the manufacturer to ensure a range of patterns and sizes. Since the Ragni Crown range is available in the two patterns and in 9,10, 11 and 12 inch lengths, there should be enough choice for the burly Polish bricklayer who wants quantities of mortar at each reach into the mortar pile, to the professional of more mature years whose tennis elbow is giving a bit of gyp. In short, the choice is personal, but I did see at least two of the professionals holding the trowels up and looking at the profile of the blade.
This revealed the next line of comment. Taper grinding means smoother mortar delivery and less weight, but could also mean weaker edges. When confronted, all the professionals admitted that they do use their trowels to cut stock bricks. Speed and convenience are more important than the edges of the trowel it seems. Bolsters and grinders were only used on very hard face bricks and where accuracy of fit was important.
Although I didn’t tell them at first, they all commented that the edges of the trowel seemed to be standing up well. Not surprising, since the blade edges of these new Ragni blades are hardened to allow exactly this kind of use.
The net result of this little experiment was that the professionals concerned were happy with the Ragni range of trowels. For some of them, their eyes were opened as to what to look out for in future, because as we all know, there are fads and fashions on the building site as well as the high street.
Before I handed out the samples I took the trouble of looking at them through a magnifier so that I could examine the stems, grinding patterns, handle fitting and edges. Quality control is clearly not an issue at the Ragni factory - they were all finished to a high standard.
The blades are all etched with size and pattern information (as well as the Ragni Crown symbol) so retailers and buyers will find it easy to find the pattern and size they want. (Interestingly, not all my professionals knew what the different patterns meant - they just talked about “rounded corners” or “wider at the top”)
To accompany the range of brick trowels, there is a matching range of gauging and pointing trowels. Made in a very similar way, with the same type of handles and blades they provide a perfect match to the bricklayers’ trowels. The pointing trowels are available in 4, 5, 6 and 7 inch lengths. The six-inch was my favourite as I had a bit of fun trying to renew the pointing in the wall running down the side of my house. It was a part of a pack that included a jointer tool, of a quality that makes me ashamed of the common offering I have seen in builders’ merchants.
Ragni has clearly made a great investment in the Crown Range of trowels and to show their confidence they are all offered with a three-year guarantee against manufacturing defects. That should make it easy for retailers to stock and sell them then!
Independent Review by Peter Brett
Airstream Communications