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Update: I picked a wood float over a magnesium float for a 20x30 slab in Bakersfield and I'm still not sure I made the right call | Concrete Finishers - Hub Chatter

claire378•28d ago

Update: I picked a wood float over a magnesium float for a 20x30 slab in Bakersfield and I'm still not sure I made the right call

Back when I started finishing in the early 2000s, almost everyone on the crew reached for a magnesium float without even thinking about it. Fast forward to last month, I'm doing a 20x30 garage slab in Bakersfield and my old mag float finally gave up on me, handle cracked right at the ferrule. So I stood there in the supply yard with two choices in my hands: another mag float for $38 or a wood float for $22. The old timers I worked under always swore wood gives you a better finish on broom-finished work because it opens the surface up a little and lets the cream come through. I went with the wood. First pass felt weird, way more drag, and my arms were burning by the third section. But when we hit it with the broom the next morning, that slab had a texture the homeowners actually commented on, said it looked like the sidewalks at their grandma's house. My foreman though told me I was wasting time and that mag would've got us off the job an hour earlier. Now I'm second guessing whether I should keep the wood float in the truck or go back to what I know. Any of you still run wood on flatwork, or did everybody switch over and I'm just behind the times?

1 comments

1 Comment

parkerward24d ago

A cracked handle on a mag float is a bummer but that's a $38 tool that lasted you twenty years, not exactly a tragedy. The real question is whether the wood float is actually better or if it just felt better because you were doing something different for once. Homeowners commenting on a garage slab finish is nice but they also probably would've been happy either way since they can't tell a mag finish from a wood finish unless you point it out. Your foreman wanting to get off the job an hour early is a foreman wanting to get off the job an hour early, that's not a finishing philosophy. Keep the wood one in the truck if you like the result, but acting like this is some big crossroads in your career is a bit much for a float.