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Choosing Quality Blades and Pans
Keeping your finishing trowel well maintained is only part of the equation when it comes to achieving a professional floor. You also need experienced operators and quality wear components, namely blades and pans.

Your operator or maintenance crew should be checking blades for wear every day and replacing as needed to ensure you're getting the best finish possible. "A contractor will need to change a blade when it starts to fray, when it's worn back enough that the contractor isn't getting a good finish," says Jeff Snyder, sales manager with Wagman Metal Products, a manufacturer of trowel blades, pans and brushes. You should change all blades at once.

Snyder points out another reason it's important to check blades daily. "Sometimes the blades themselves can help indicate some other issue that might be going on with a trowel. In other words, if a blade is not wearing uniformly, it could mean a trowel arm is bent or spider assembly has some wear or needs attention," he says.

When choosing a quality trowel blade or pan, Snyder says it all boils down to consistency with high-quality raw materials and workmanship. "Steel throughout itself can have some high or low spots. If it's not consistent, you can get uneven wear or wobble," he says. "You want steel that is flat and straight. The mounting brackets should be straight, and if they are drilled the spacing between the holes should be consistent."

A quality float pan will have a flange design, which will give the pan a slight dish for shock absorbency. This helps to avoid a situation where the pan can go concave and create suction where the pan meets the floor, which will slow down the trowel.