My brush and trowel both broke on the same dig last weekend

I was at a site near Bakersfield last Saturday and my Marshalltown trowel snapped right at the handle while I was scraping a trench wall, then my dustpan brush lost half its bristles 20 minutes later. I ended up using a flathead screwdriver and my hands for the rest of the afternoon which was miserable. Anyone got a recommendation for a trowel that won't crap out after six months?

3 comments

3 Comments

veramiller25d ago

Always swore by 'em, but that cheap plastic grip comment hit home. Yeah, I'm switching too.

hannahcoleman27d ago

Marshalltowns have gone downhill, get a WHS trowel instead.

noah_webb25d ago

Three years of using Marshalltowns on my first real job and I never noticed the quality slipping until I bought a new one last spring and the handle felt like it was gonna twist right off in my hand... maybe I just got old and weak, but I've been eyeing that WHS for a while now. @hannahcoleman, you might have just saved me from another busted thumb and a whole lot of cussing. Honestly, at this point I'd probably drop a trowel into wet mud if it meant not dealing with that cheap plastic grip again. Guess I'll give the WHS a shot, worst case I just end up blaming my bad technique like always.