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Picked a trowel with a wooden handle over a plastic one for my first big wall
Been bricklaying for about 2 years now, mostly small jobs like garden walls and patios. Last month I took on a 40 foot long retaining wall near a creek in Ohio, pretty serious project for me. I had to choose between my old plastic handled trowel and a new Marshalltown wood handle one I got as a gift. Decided to go with the wooden handle because I heard it absorbs sweat better on humid days. Man, what a difference it made for my grip over the 8 hour days out there. My hand cramped way less and I didn't drop anything. Has anyone else noticed a big difference between handle materials on longer jobs?
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beth2761mo ago
My buddy Mike ran into this exact thing last summer. He spent 3 weeks on a retaining wall job in Indiana and stuck with his plastic handle the whole time because he was too cheap to swap it out. By day 5 his palm had this rash from the plastic just rubbing raw in the heat, and he said the handle felt slippery like holding a wet bar of soap. He finally borrowed my wood handle one afternoon and said it felt like a totally different tool, way less strain on his knuckles.
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sean8541mo ago
Funny, I actually had the opposite experience - I ran a plastic handle for two years on a stone job in Ohio and never had a rash or slipping issue. Maybe it depends on the brand or how much your hands sweat.
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