What tools do I actually need to plaster a patch?

Plastering is unusual among trades in that the tool list is short and the skill is everything. That cuts both ways: you can equip yourself for a patch for the price of a takeaway, and no amount of equipment substitutes for the timing. What tools do change is how hard the job fights you, and two of them make a real difference.

What you'll need

• Stainless finishing trowel, 11 or 13 inch
• Plasterer's hawk
• Bucket trowel
• Two clean buckets
• Mixing paddle and a drill that will turn it
• Water brush
• Straightedge or feather edge
• Corner trowel (optional)
• Scratching comb (optional)

Step by step

1. Buy the trowel first and treat it as the important purchase.A stainless steel finishing trowel, 11 inch for patches and confined work, 13 inch for larger areas. Stainless does not stain the plaster; carbon steel does until it is well worn in.
2. Break the trowel in before you use it on anything that matters.A brand-new trowel has sharp corners and edges that dig lines into the plaster. Round the corners slightly and take the edges off with fine abrasive paper, then use it on something unimportant first. A worn trowel is genuinely better than a new one, which is why plasterers keep old ones.
3. Get a hawk you can hold for an hour.Aluminium or plastic with a comfortable handle. A heavy hawk is a fatigue problem, and fatigue is what makes patches look bad, because the last pass is the one that counts.
4. Use a proper mixing paddle in a drill with real torque.A cordless combi will manage a half bucket of finish. Backing plaster in quantity needs a corded mixer. A paddle costs very little and it is the difference between a smooth mix and lumps.
5. Get a straightedge for anything with depth.A feather edge, an aluminium rule or a straight length of timber. Ruling the backing coat off level is what makes the patch disappear, and it cannot be done by eye.
6. Get a water brush.A wide soft brush used to flick water onto the surface during the trowelling passes. A cheap brush works. Doing this with a wet hand does not.
7. Skip most of what is in the kits.Plastic float, sponge float, corner trowels and internal angle tools all have uses in specific circumstances, and none of them is needed for a patch. Buy them when you meet the job that needs them.
8. Add the protection.Dust sheets, a bucket of clean water, a sponge, and gloves. Plaster is alkaline enough to dry and crack skin badly over a day's work.

Tips

• Buy the trowel in person if you can and hold it. Blade flex, handle shape and balance vary a lot and they are what your wrist is arguing with for the next two hours.
• Never put a trowel away dirty. Set plaster on the blade transfers straight into your next job as scratches.
• A second-hand trowel from a plasterer who is upgrading is a genuinely good buy, because someone else has already done the breaking in.

Alternatives

• A filling knife and a taping knife: For small, shallow repairs in filler rather than plaster, a 100mm filling knife and a wide taping knife do a better job than a trowel and cost far less. Below about 5mm depth, this is the right kit.
• Hiring a mixer: For a whole room in backing plaster, a hired paddle mixer saves both time and a burnt-out drill. Not worth it for a patch.
• Ready-mixed skim in a tub: Considerably more expensive per square metre and slower to harden, but it does not go off in the bucket, which is exactly the problem a beginner has. A legitimate choice for a first patch.

Questions people ask