hello,

just stumbled upon this brilliant forum and am hoping someone may be able to help.

i've just started plastering and have developed trigger finger.  which is a condition where it is difficult to bend the finger and when you try to straighten it back up it is, again, difficult and snaps straight with a click.  it is caused by a lump on the tendon and this lump catches on the tendon sheath.  i'm just about to have a cortisone injection to treat it.

any other plasterers get this??  if so how did you treat it?

having read a few threads on this site, i've a feeling that the possible cause is the way in which i've been taught to plaster.  did one of these intense courses.  to be honest, it was fairly crap.  they had you slap the plaster any old how, which is ok first coat, but then they had you leave the flattening until after the second coat has been applied and gone off.  this is quite strenous work and is hard on the fingers, so i have started very quickly flattening the fist coat as it goes off to reduce flattening later on.

any advice on protecting yourself from over-use injuries would be most welcome.

many thanks


kevin

Well my advice is to get someone else to do the plastering  :-D :-D

Ha ha I hear you say.........................  

Sorry mate, not heard of this problem. I avoid plastering like the plague, it's one of the most physical aspects of construction work (even more physical than joinery   )

Robbo is the man you want but he's probably at one of his many overseas properties sunning himself.

(yes, plasterers can earn shed loads............)

and welcome to the forum  

cheers chaps.

yeah, robbo i'd be glad of any help/tips that you may be able to pass on.  i take it you never had trigger finger then?  in fact my doctor said he only saw one case a year.  whereas the some net articles make out its a widespread problem.

i chose to have a bash at plastering because i'm pi$$ed off with my call centre job!!  and there isn't a massive outlay in tools and the price of the course will more than cover the cost of plastering my house!!

i've been reading through the archive and found some really useful tips already.

i tend to make a separate mix for each coat, which is what we were shown on the course.  but a mate of mine says he finds it best to get both coats out of one mix.  which is best??

also, i read that pva can be used as a retardant.  are there any draw back to this??

when skimming over bonding coat, can you just put one coat of skim over the damp bonding, rather than letting the bonding go off all together and then uni bonding it?

thanks very much and like i say any other help that you might like to offer would be greatly apprecheated.

cheers

kevin

hi woodsmith, yeah i have a rubber handled marshalltown trowel.

i might try putting cork cushioned bike handle bar tape around the handle to make it bigger.  i have quite big hands.

where abouts in shropshire are you woodsmith??  i'm from telford originally.


cheers

kevin

ah well you see.  that's your mistake.  playing tennis with a hammer :-D

[quote author=greenstratman  link=1149837069/0#8 date=1149930607]ah well you see.  that's your mistake.  playing tennis with a hammer :-D [/quote]

It helps me "nail" the opposition