How to remove dried adhesive from trowel?

[dingabell]

Hi there. I lent my trowels to someone who was doing some tiling for themselves, and they've let the adhesive dry all over them. There's no way it's going to come off by scraping it. Does anyone know if there's any product I can use to get it off? I was thinking of maybe trying the cement remover you can buy?

 

[charlie1]

Soak them in acid, or try angle grinder (worked for me). Be carefully though!

 

[J Sid]

Put them in the bin. Buy new ones. Send this person the bill. And learn a lesson, don't lend your tools to friends, they never look after them like you would.

 

[Ian]

A grinder will so it, I'd be getting new ones though and charging them. I very rarely lend my tools out to people, they never look after them properly.

 

[Martyn Leeds]

Tap it off? or a little bit of brick acid cleaner stuff will do the trick

 

[John Benton]

Pin hammer, sit trowel on top ledge of skip, hit and then scrape, easier keeping them clean though to start with!!!

Tell him to buy his own next time!!!

 

[cam_low]

Gundlach scraper on flat surface

 

[Time's Ran Out]

It wasn't me was it?

 

[Dougs Third Go]

what addy is it? if it was tubbed stuff, try soaking them in hot water. If it was real addy then angle grinder.

 

[dingabell]

what addy is it? if it was tubbed stuff, try soaking them in hot water. If it was real addy then angle grinder.

It was proper addy, not the rubbed stuff.
Will try the acid first, then an angle grinder if that doesn't work. Looks like my friend just got himself a secondhand set of trowels for the price of some shiney new ones. :smilewinkgrin:

 

[lucius]

Be carefull with the acid it can damage the trowels try soaking them in vinegar for a couple of days it should fall of just makes them go black but dosent harm the trowel

 

[Sean Kelly]

I put one of my bucket trowels into a bucket of [FONT=Open Sans, arial, sans-serif]phosphoric acid for a few days. Trowel is now too bendy to hold addy! I find it's quite therapeutic cleaning trowels and tools. The acid will work, but don't leave it soaking for too long. [/FONT]

 

[dingabell]

Right, I'll ignore the acid and try the angle grinder tomorrow. If that doesn't work it won't matter as he'll probably be asked nicely to have my old ones and get me some new ones. Good job I didn't lend him my wet cutter as well.

 

[J Sid]

I tried an angle grinder on one of mine 3 years ago, it slipped and put a 4" gash in my thigh, no blood and no pain but went down to the bone. An evening in A&E stitching up muscles and flesh. BE CAREFULL !!!! Just buy a new one only £8

 

[judge]

Im sure b n q will sell one of them plastic spreaders to replace youre trowel with .......soz, couldnt resit it :sofahide:

 

[cam_low]

Angle grinders tend to build up heat and curve up

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

I put one of my bucket trowels into a bucket of phosphoric acid for a few days. Trowel is now too bendy to hold addy! I find it's quite therapeutic cleaning trowels and tools. The acid will work, but don't leave it soaking for too long.

wrong acid ! sulphuric is best ,and the stronger you get the quicker it takes to clean them .......

 

[Michele]

Don't know if I was just lucky. I used a serving spoon to scrape old tile adhesive out of a container, and did not clean it right away. It sat for several days, at least 4. It wouldn't scrape off, so I soaked it in dish soap. After a few minutes I used the hard plastic edge of a sponge-on-a-stick, and little bits started coming off. I kept adding more soap and moisture and attacking with the plastic.

I may have benefited from the shape of the spoon being curved, but it's clean now, took maybe 20 minutes total. And I am relieved.

 

[Tile Shop]

I used to be a bit of a bugger for not cleaning up after myself. But now slowly getting in the habit of having a couple of buckets of clean water by my side with sponges and brushes for cleaning tools/tiles/joints as I'm going.

Before then I used to scrape as much adhesive back into the bucket as possible, but never cleaned off the residue. I used a hand held rubbing block to clean it up. Grinder in very extreme cases.

 

[Kyle Knowles]

A bucket with brick acid and everything comes out clean as

 

[Ajax123]

Bucket of coca cola...

Tile cleaner is often phosphoric acid which is the same as is in coke. Occasionally it's hydrochloric. Concrete firms generally use hydrochloric acid to clean off concrete and the likes from lorries. Sulphuric acid will dissolve your trowels if yoj leave it too pong especially the strong stuff. Vinegar is acetic acid... one of the weak acids so will work but will take a long time.

 

[Italy]

all beautiful rusty, using acid.

 

[Italy]

my system, angle grinder with sandpaper, use it at low rpm.
all shiny tools.

 

[Flintstone]

A tiler I know regularly leaves them covered in crap and grinds them up, weird, but then again, his most popular trowel was about 4mm deep notch at one end and 10mm at the other

 

[Andy Allen]

Rub it on some gravel...

 

[J Sid]

just buy a new one, use it a week and skip it.....cheap as chips

 

[Italy]

just buy a new one, use it a week and skip it.....cheap as chips

you just will not to work

 

[LM]

just buy a new one, use it a week and skip it.....cheap as chips

I can't bring myself to do it, I'm a hoarder

 

[Spare Tool]

just buy a new one, use it a week and skip it.....cheap as chips

Or do possible decent money earning floors on day rate and spend an hour cleaning everything thats in the van at the end of the day.....like I just have

 

[J Sid]

could have been fishing mate and cash in the bank, you'll listen to us one day