A question for the experts.......

[Argus]

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I'm a big fan of cabinet makers floats - well sharpened and aligned they can produce an exceptional finish.

Recenty I came across what looked like (and is described as) a float in an on-line store

http://www.oldtools.co.uk/tools/misc/ot ... ls.884.php

......... but these don't have a cutting edge.

What were they used for with this type of edge?

Were they intended to be cut and sharpened by the user or were these things made for another purpose other than shaping wood?


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[bugbear]

They're for finishing a particular kind of pointing in brickwork, the name of which escapes me at the moment.

"ruled joint" I think, but don't bet money on it.

BugBear

 

[Argus]

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Thank you, BugBear.

I'd thought of something of the kind as the examples were by Tyzack and sons who appear to have patented vatious forms of metal floats used in plastering and the like in the 19th century.


I don't know anything about bricklaying so I'll try to envisage how they were used. It's certain that there are no modern examples of this type of tool that I can see other than the handles of old buckets I've seen used for raking out mortar.... perhaps it is a lost art.


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[GazPal]

"Tuck" jointers for varying types of brickwork joints/jointing such as weather struck, flush, etc.. Plasterer's would also use them when creating and repairing different types of cornice, reveal and architrave.

 

[bugbear]

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Thank you, BugBear.

I'd thought of something of the kind as the examples were by Tyzack and sons who appear to have patented vatious forms of metal floats used in plastering and the like in the 19th century.


I don't know anything about bricklaying so I'll try to envisage how they were used. It's certain that there are no modern examples of this type of tool that I can see other than the handles of old buckets I've seen used for raking out mortar.... perhaps it is a lost art.


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To confirm: In old catalogues (I checked a few last night) these are called "brick jointers", and listed as being made from cast steel.

I'm pretty confident on "ruled joint" too, but can't find a reference.

(edit)
Ah! More knowledge bring better search terms for google, which in turn brings more knowledge:

From "An encyclopædia of cottage, farm, and villa architecture and furniture ... By John Claudius Loudon"

and the external face to be worked with a neat flat ruled joint (a ruled joint is a joint struck flat with the trowel, with a line drawn in the centre by means of a small iron instrument, fig. 207, called a jointer, and an iron straight edge, or flat ruler).



BugBear

 

[GazPal]

Their use is as I'd described earlier. Joints are typically "struck" flush during the brick/stone laying process, then tooled using a variety of jointers. Ruled joints tend to be formed using a T-section jointer which both indents the line and finishes the adjacent mortar. Resulting slop is then cleaned up using a "frenchman". Such specialised jointers are less common nowadays, but were crafted using either cast or forged steel.