OX Tools SPEEDSKIM Pole Set 2 pc

Product Information

You can buy the Speedskim in three different lengths 600, 1,200 and 1,800mm. Most people tend to buy a set but if your main aim is to flatten ceilings I would suggest that the 1,800 is a bit too wide to use on the pole. In fact I know some people who use the 600 on the pole, claiming that they get much better pressure and control. This job was a bit of an odd job as it was meant to be just an extension but as the build continued more and more of the house needed further work doing so, the family decided to move out from what once was a small project extension to allow for a complete refurb. This also meant that the time it was expected to be ready for my plastering services was a little delayed which any other time of the year would not be a problem but due to my holiday commitments it only left me with 10 days to get as much of the plastering done as possible. What I like about these few and far between jobs that I do is that I get to play with some of the tools that I get sent and if you read my mixm8 review previously it can uncover some interesting findings. So this job was going to give me plenty of time to play with some new tools which includes the Speedskim and also something called a Japanese trowel. I have enough plastering experience and am a very open minded person to know when a product is going to be something that is valuable and also very useful. All too often I have had plasterers in to do this job and found that I am still having to make up tile beds to overcome their sweeping curves. The chief gripe for me is the way that they ramp up into the corners. With the Speedskim this is rectified immediately.

Yes a few people don’t like it but that is common with anything and to be honest you can’t please everybody and over the course of the years the Speedskim has evolved and changed ever so slightly. Like they have now got interchangeable blades and come in various sizes.Certainly my old mate Dave Pederson and his sons are interested in trying it on some big ceilings that they have coming up soon. Using a Speedskim is very much like using a featheredge as you do need to make sure that it is clean and free from and dried lumps of plaster. But the real test was going to be when I put the massive ceiling on the following day Compatible with all gypsum based plasters (hand and spray applied), traditional sand and cement renders and insulated rendering systems Ok so the first coat took a little over 3 bags to get on and because speed was of the essence I was not going to worry too much about using a trowel to flatten it in but simply get straight to the point and use the 1200 Speedskim.

The second coat went on and was also flattened off with the Speedskim and once again it was very easy to do but still once again it left 2 lines where the edges of the Speedskim had dug in. I had also put on the window reveals and used the Speedskim to flatten off which made very light work of them. As many of you will know I am a plasterer by trade, and although I am no longer trading as one I will still go and complete jobs for the old builders I use to carry out work for. One of the main reasons for this is that a couple of the local painters and decorators like to follow me, so even though I am now living on the south coast of England I still get the pleasure of returning to my home town. So this ceiling was pushing 40 m2 and although it was over plasterboard the ceiling was up and down like a fiddlers elbow so it was going to be a bit of a challenge and the other challenge was going to be me having enough energy to put the ceiling on and finish it.

I have used these in the past and I think it was also in the mixm8 review where I discussed that I used the Speedskim on the barrel ceiling that I had to re-plaster. So although I have used the Speedskim in the past I had not used it enough to come to a full conclusion.

Over the coming months I am going to keep a set of Speedskims in the van and as I travel about the country I will let plasterers give them a try to gather some further impressions. So the rest of the job I was either re-skimming board work or re-skimming old plaster and it soon became clear that I was using the Speedskim on every single wall and every time I would use it a little smile would creep in as I realised how little effort it took to flatten in. Especially in the heat.In that respect it may be easier to get a non-plasterer up to speed than an old hand but it is the older guys who are suffering with repetitive strain injury from years on the trowel who will benefit the most. It won’t get the plaster on the wall or ceiling and it may not give you the final polish but it could save you 500 sweeps of the trowel in a day and that has got to give your wrist a rest. They have what you might call a healthy level of scepticism about anything that doesn’t hurt. They believe that work = pain and that is why people pay you to do it.