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I swore by a magnesium float for everything until a driveway job in Tacoma changed my mind
We had this big exposed aggregate driveway pour, about 1200 square feet, and I started with my usual magnesium float for the first pass. The mix was a bit wetter than I liked, and the magnesium just wasn't pulling enough cream to the top, leaving the surface looking patchy. My foreman handed me a wood float and said, 'Try this, it works better when it's thirsty.' The wood float gave me way more control over the bleed water and closed the surface up perfectly without tearing it. Has anyone else found wood is better for certain pours?
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sandraflores1d ago
My uncle did concrete for thirty years and he always said the tool doesn't matter half as much as the guy holding it. A good finisher could probably make a decent pass with a piece of cardboard. All this talk about wood versus magnesium just sounds like people overthinking a simple job. If the surface was patchy, maybe the mix was just off that day. I've seen guys finish wet pours with a magnesium float just fine. It's not that serious.
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davis.adam5d ago
That foreman knew his stuff. Did switching to wood change how you timed your finishing steps on that pour?
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