Talk:Putty knife

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Hmm... This isn't a putty knife, this is: http://www.toolstation.com/images/library/stock/webbig/42084.jpg

It's called a putty knife because it's used to properly put putty around a pane of glass. The tool in the article is a scraper blade, used for scarping paint and wallpaper, not for puttying. Madness.

-previous comment added 10:59, 3 February 2008 by 77.102.186.115

Good point you make; the 'pedia could use a freely licensed image like that. But actually, the knives in the pic are not scrapers, but spreaders. Superficially similar, scrapers have a stiffer blade and often a beveled front edge. Card scrapers are a different critter, of course. __Just plain Bill (talk) 13:35, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

I agree with the above comment - the image does not show a putty knife or knives. These are drywall knives. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.241.131.120 (talk) 22:14, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

Not really drywall knives, those two get used for almost everything but. Give me a day or so, and I'll put up a pic of some drywall knives, useful for joint taping and skim-coating. Ace Hardware seems to think the ones in the existing pic are putty knives. I haven't seen a window glazed with putty around the edges lately... but the first comment with the toolstation link is correct about the knife best used for that job. __Just plain Bill (talk) 04:04, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

Hi, OP here. Yeah, there seems to be a lot of confusion on what various handtools are called! Googling "putty knife" shows many different tools refferred to as such. If I'd used a scraper (or filler or whatever) to putty a pane of glass when I was an apprentice decorator, I would have been in trouble... It needs to be made clear that a putty knife is that tool from the link I posted, and that it is intended to be used to putty round panes of glass. 77.102.186.115 (talk) 19:26, 5 February 2008 (UTC)Steve

OK, added a pic of a proper putty knife, and some text to clarify it. __Just plain Bill (talk) 14:35, 5 June 2008 (UTC)