No decorators toolkit will be would be complete without Decorators knives

No decorators toolkit will be would be complete without a selection of Decorators knives, these special tools used solely by painters and decorators.

Knives come in different shapes and sizes to preparing areas like mouldings, cornices and ornamental beadings for Painting or Decorating.

When buying knives buy the best you can afford, if you want a knife that is durable and will last the test of time.

Components of a Decorators Knife

The Blade made out of one-piece steel blade which extends the full length and width of the handle and is often visible on the side of the handle.
Bolster usually found between the blade and the handle this gives strength to the weak point of the knife, such as where the blade ends and the tang and handle begins.
Part of the blade which is underneath the handle is known as Tang, a good quality knife is constructed with a Full Tang that extends the full length and width of the handle.
The Handle is attached through the Tang in several ways normally riveted, handle which is traditionally made out of rosewood but nowadays can be made from countless materials and combinations.

Putty Knife

Putty knife as the name suggests is to applied putty and forming a bevel between the glass and the glazing bar, and is used to remove unwanted putty away from the face of the glass surface.

The blade is normally made from stainless steel with a tang extending through inside the handle, the blade-shaped with one side curved and a straight-edged side cut at an oblique angle.

The knife is also known as a stopping knife for filling in small holes and cracks.

Care and maintenance of the knife should be cleaned and dry after use, if the point becomes worn or burred over, the blade should be reground.

Stripping Knife

The stripping knife is also known as the scraper, and the blade must be capable of taking and retaining a good edge.

A good quality knife has a hardwood handle which is riveted to the steel tang and come in sizes between 25mm to 100mm

The function of the knife is to remove old or flaking paint and wallpaper plus remove any loose debris from the surface in preparation for painting or decorating.

Care and maintenance of the knife should be cleaned and dry after use.

Filling Knife 2"

In appearance to Filling Knife is very similar to Stripping Knife the only difference is that the gauge is a lot thinner making the blade more flexible.

A good quality knife has a hardwood handle which is riveted to the steel tang and come in sizes between 25mm to 150mm

The function of the knife is to fill in open grain on timber shallows and indents, cracks and holes.

Care and maintenance of the knife should be cleaned and dry after use, the blade doesn’t have to be sharp but must be without any mix in the blade.

Board Filling Knife

ou often see the name Board Filling Knife, it’s the same as a filler knife but is a lot wider which holds a lot more filler and stoppers when applying it to a surface.
A board filler knife allows you to cover a larger area and the blade extends past the opening to ensure the surface is flush with the surrounding area.
If the opening area to be filled is large as 150mm wide then you need to think about Caulker or Taping Blade which have the widest blade, both have a flexible blade.

Chisel knife

A narrow stripping knife with a square edge, used for removing Paint, wallpaper bits and nibs would all plaster where the normal scraper will fit into like between doorframes or mouldings.

The blade size is between 25 and 50mm and are constructed in the same way as a stripping knife.

The care and maintenance of the chisel life is the same as the stripping knife.

Palette knife

These knives come in a variety of sizes and there are two main types:

• Artists – with flexible thin blades.
• Painters – with flexible blades.

Long narrow flexible blade with rounded end.

Used for mixing paint both in tins and on palette boards.

Ensure that the end does not become bent or burred over.

Multi Hand Tool

There are several different multi-hand tools for decorating out there in the marketplace.
Common decorators multitool has several functions some may include the following:

A Scraper to remove old or flaking paint and wallpaper plus remove any loose debris from the surface in preparation for painting or decorating.
Nail Puller speaks for itself only suitable for small nails, to minimise damage to the surrounding area place a scrap piece of wood on the underside of the nail puller this will also act as additional leverage.
Roller cleaner can remove paint from the roller back into its container before cleaning
The Hammer End and in conjunction with the Scraper Head can be used for light work like removing damaged plaster and creating a clean edge.
Pointed Edge can be used to remove loose or flaking paint from internal corners or mouldings and cleaning out cracks.

Be aware that some multi-tools claim to have even more functions than listed above, you need to look closely at the additional functions to see if the practical and are they really what you need?.

Hacking knife

A hacking knife is made out of one-piece heavy-duty rigid metal blade with the handle covered with leather, the blade is normally 100 to 120mm long.

The top of the blade is flat to receive hammer blows when removing old tough putty around glazing bars before reglazing.

When cutting out old tough putty placed the knife to the side of the frame and parallel to the surface of the glass so that you avoid striking glass and cracking it.

Shave Hooks

The Shave hooks have a bevelled cutting edge attached to the shank and the handle.

The function of the Shave hooks is used to remove loose or flaking paint from internal corners or mouldings and cleaning out cracks, also used when removing paint by chemical or by burning.

Shave hooks are available in three different profile: triangular, Heart and Combination.

To maintain a shave hook user a metal file to keep them sharp at all times, plus checked the head of the shaft to ensure that the hook has not become loose.