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A piece of titanium sheet is all you need in principle, but making a nice job of it without too much swearing and frustration does mean you will need some other materials as well.

Just how complex can it be to design a trowel? It's dead simple - unless you want something which won't break in the middle when you lean on it. The secret of strength in the section between the handle and the blade is to make a smooth transition and to use curves for reinforcing. You have to avoid any suggestion of a sharp inside corner, or you will get what engineers call a 'stress concentration.'

ARTICLE OUTLINE

  • Materials
  • Tools
  • Overview
  • Design
  • The Forms
  • Preparing the Titanium Blank
  • Shaping the Blade
  • Shaping the Handle
  • Alignments
  • Finishing Off

# WORDS: 3900
# PHOTOS: 11

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