Old timer in Tulsa showed me a trick for stamping concrete that saved my back

I was doing a stamped patio job outside Tulsa last summer, and this retired finisher walks over from next door. He watched me for a minute then said, 'you're fighting the concrete, not working with it.' He showed me how to time the release powder and use a lighter touch on the stamps. It cut my arm fatigue in half that day. Has anyone else had an old pro just walk up and drop some knowledge like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

kimr3326d ago

That lighter touch trick sounds obvious now but I used to think you had to really lean into the stamps.

kaib1825d ago

Read a blog post from some old school finisher in Arizona who said the same thing about not forcing it. He compared it to dancing with the concrete which sounds corny but makes sense when you think about it. The concrete is gonna set whether you're wrestling it or not, so you might as well ease up and let the stamps do the work. I tried his timing method with the release powder and it was like night and day, no more fighting the sticky mess. Plus I heard him say that leaning harder can actually mess up the edges of your pattern because you're pushing the concrete out of shape. Makes you wonder how many other little secrets are out there that nobody ever writes down.