External Lime Rendering Coats

[aockenden]

Think it’s a bit of what works best for folks. I’ve seen perfectly flat finishes with a metal trowel, but that’s the pros… it’s one of those tools that in the right hands is perfect, but shows up those of us without decades of experience! I can’t make it work…yet!

A bit like buying an expensive espresso machine and grinder… initially your coffee gets way worse than with the cheaper kit!!

Yeah for sure, with the rigid steel one I kept digging the corners into the plaster and tearing it off the wall by accident.

 

[paulc]

Grind a 1/4" radius on the corners of the trowel. Helps no end, and also reduces the number of trowel marks.
You'll still get the occasional dig-in as your technique improves.

 

[a twig]

I bought an Italian / Venetian polishing trowel years ago, it has the rounded corners and is a thinner and springier steel (and it’s stainless to boot) and I love it, it is still going now and made me fantastically better at finishing plastering.

Company I bought from seems to have gone from the internet - I’ll see if I can find a link to something similar.

Here we go - this sort of thing

I also do similar to Paul’s suggestion and have rounded off the front two corner on a few trowels in the past

 

[aockenden]

I bought an Italian / Venetian polishing trowel years ago, it has the rounded corners and is a thinner and springier steel (and it’s stainless to boot) and I love it, it is still going now and made me fantastically better at finishing plastering.

Company I bought from seems to have gone from the internet - I’ll see if I can find a link to something similar.

Here we go - this sort of thing

I also do similar to Paul’s suggestion and have rounded off the front two corner on a few trowels in the past

Cool, so you use that purely for polishing, not getting it on the wall?

 

[a twig]

The proper answer is “yes only for polishing” but I tend to use it for everything after the base coat - my base coats often had hemp in so were pretty hefty and stiff so I’d use a more traditional trowel in that case so I could give it a bit more oomph.

But yeah, skimming, second coats, patch repairs, polishing, that trowel has become my go to

 

[paulc]

I bought an Italian / Venetian polishing trowel years ago, it has the rounded corners and is a thinner and springier steel (and it’s stainless to boot) and I love it, it is still going now and made me fantastically better at finishing plastering.

Company I bought from seems to have gone from the internet - I’ll see if I can find a link to something similar.

Here we go - this sort of thing

I got my Pavan trowels from Mike Wye, but it looks like they no longer stock the ones I had (Pavan 825).
In answer to aockenden, the larger size gets used for applying the first coat of Venetian plaster (no more than 0.5mm thick). The smaller trowels are used to slap the finishing coat on, scraping it off, and then burnishing.

 

[Cubist]

Yes that’s everything I’ve done on that outbuilding over the past 3 months.

Coo. Are you practicing for the big jobs to come around the house or merely finding any excuse to be out of it for a while..... or are you just a raving lunatic like the rest of us?

 

[aockenden]

Coo. Are you practicing for the big jobs to come around the house or merely finding any excuse to be out of it for a while..... or are you just a raving lunatic like the rest of us?

Yes exactly, it’s practice for external lime rendering, internal lime and clay plastering, floor-tile laying, slate-sill installing, wood staining and finishing, etc. Take our beatings / knocks out there so we are more skilled for the finishing work on the house.

 

[Cubist]

Yes exactly, it’s practice for external lime rendering, internal lime and clay plastering, floor-tile laying, slate-sill installing, wood staining and finishing, etc. Take our beatings / knocks out there so we are more skilled for the finishing work on the house.

Raving lunatic it is then,

 

[Stevers]

I've long suspected that my well used (and loved) finishing trowel bought secondhand is easier for me to use than a new one would be due to all the edges being nicely rounded off.

 

[a twig]

100% Stevers

I didn’t realise until I watched an online tutorial that unless you go mega expensive, using a standard trowel “out the box” is almost guaranteed to hinder your ability to get good results, turns out there is a whole routine you need to go through first involving scraping it around on a concrete floor or kerbstone to break it in

 

[aockenden]

Annnnd, 5 (yes five) coats of lime wash later and I’ve got this. Now the wife says it’s too white…

 

[Cubist]

Tell her where you keep the paintbrushes! That sometimes works for me,...... but can have painful repercussions when one bounces off my head.

 

[malcolm]

That looks really good. Good finish materials and a texture you don't see any more.

 

[a twig]

The white will mellow a bit, particularly after the winter has done its thing.

Looks fantastic

 

[aockenden]

Tell her where you keep the paintbrushes! That sometimes works for me,...... but can have painful repercussions when one bounces off my head.

Lol yeah that sounds like a likely outcome…

 

[aockenden]

That looks really good. Good finish materials and a texture you don't see any more.

The white will mellow a bit, particularly after the winter has done its thing.

Looks fantastic

Thanks gents! That texture is probably a combination of my amateur rendering skill leaving gentle waviness in the surface, some rough patches from overdoing it with the sponge float, and my very thick limewash (basically just sloppy putty) applied roughly with a large brush.

 

[Cherryburn]

Ah, that's just extra character!

 

[Cubist]

Ah, that's just extra character!

Many people just do not understand why we all go to such extreme lengths to achieve that authentic and characterful look. Sheer artistry to my mind.