Trade Hand Tools
Trade Hand Tools
This domain checks whether you can name, select, use and maintain the hand tools of the painting trade. Exam questions often ask which tool is correct for a named task and what damage follows from using the wrong one.
Core tool groups
- Preparation: putty knife, stripping knife, shave hook, hacking knife, wire brush, scrapers, sanding blocks and cork rubbers.
- Brushes: flat, oval, sash and cutting-in brushes; each has bristle or filament set into a ferrule and a stock. A sash brush has a angled head for narrow glazing bars.
- Rollers and pads: roller frames, sleeves with different naps, radiator rollers and pad applicators.
- Containers and aids: paint kettle, stirrer, straining cloth, tack rag, step platform.
- Measuring and testing hand tools are covered separately, but a moisture meter and hygrometer are normal site tools.
Selection rules
- Use a shave hook for old putty in a sash, not a chisel; a chisel is for wood removal and will damage the frame.
- Use a stripping knife with a blunt, square edge for scraping flat surfaces; a putty knife is flexible and is for applying putty.
- Match the brush to the coating: natural bristle for solvent-borne paints, synthetic filament for water-borne paints.
Worked example
A painter must remove hardened putty from a timber sash window without gouging the glazing bar. The shave hook has a shaped profile that follows the rebate and reaches into the corner. A flat scraper would bridge the rebate, and a chisel would cut into the timber. After removal, a hacking knife clears the old glazing points.
Traps
- Leaving a brush standing on its bristles in paint; this bends the stock and ruins the brush.
- Using a screwdriver as a scraper and damaging the surface.
- Burning off paint with a blowlamp close to glass, which cracks it.
- Never clean a natural-bristle brush in water and expect it to keep its shape.