ON TEST
HANDS ON T
OX TOOLS WHITE PU FLEX DECORATORS’ GLOVES RRP: £1.98 PAIR
On our DIY product test bench this month we have a few decorating essentials, including an interesting wood repairer and filler, protective gloves and paint roller sleeve.
his month the DIY Week test team has been turning its attention to essential decorating products. With home improvement enjoying a boom through lockdown, customers are looking for good quality products that are up to the task, are going to last and offer good value for money.
Gloves from OX Tools. Not only are they good value for money at less than £2 per pair retail, they are also incredibly comfortable to wear for long periods.
These gloves fall somewhere in between disposable latex gloves, which can easily tear and get quite sweaty, and regular work gloves which are often poor fitting and too bulky for a lot of decorating tasks. The PU Flex material used for the OX gloves makes them flexible and soft to wear, while allowing the skin to breath and offering a good amount of protection. They still allow the wearer to have good feel, which is often lacking with other products, while at the same time providing a decent amount of grip. They also last surprisingly well too for a low priced glove, so they really do tick all the boxes.
Essential for keeping safe and clean while tackling any decorating task, finding a comfortable and well fitting protective glove isn’t always easy, which is why many DIYers end up going without and getting covered in paint and other chemicals. Enter these White PU Flex Decorators’
During our testing, we used the OX gloves when undertaking a number of painting, sanding and flooring jobs and they lasted very well and provided good protection without any sweaty hands, so we can highly recommend them. n
www.oxtools.com
JENOLITE WOOD REPAIR EPOXY PUTTY STICK RRP: £11.99
Jenolite Wood Stick Epoxy Putty is the perfect solution for repairing and rebuilding wooden components. The two-part epoxy forms a polymer compound that cures to the same density as wood. Once cured in just 60 minutes, it can be drilled, tapped, sawed, sanded, filed, painted and stained. We tested the Jenolite epoxy putty on a wooden door repair where the lock and handle had been removed, leaving a big hole to fill and make good. Regular woodfiller would struggle in this scenario, so we opted for the putty instead. The product is really easy and clean to use, simply cut off what you think will be the required amount for the repair and then massage between fingers to mix the two parts of the product together before applying to the area to be repaired. It has the texture of Plasticine, so it’s easy to push into the repair and then smooth off. Despite
HAMILTON PERFECTION SHORT PILE ROLLER SLEEVE RRP: £6.75
Having tried many different paint rollers over the years with varying degrees of success and finishes, this month we thought we’d invest a little extra and give a higher quality sleeve from Hamilton a go. Constructed using a high density microfibre fabric, the sleeve promises excellent paint pick-up, coverage and a fine, flat finish. The short pile sleeve we used is suitable for use on smooth surfaces using emulsion, solvent- and water-based primer, undercoat and eggshell finishes.
The first thing you notice about the Hamilton sleeve is just how dense yet soft the microfibre fabric is, with hardly any
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the fact it cures in just an hour, we still found we had plenty of time to work with the product before it started to go off.
The end result was excellent, leaving a neat repair that just required a bit of surface filling and sanding before painting. We found a little of the product goes quite a long way, so as long as the tube is sealed back up, it should last and be good for a few repair jobs. n
www.jenolite.com
fluff or dust coming from it, even straight out of the packet. We would usually recommend washing a new roller before use, but in order to test this one properly, we used it straight out of the packet when emulsioning a wall. The first thing you notice is just how well it picks up paint from the tray without any splattering and then goes on the wall like a dream, again without any splashing or splattering you might get from a traditional fabric or longer pile roller. The finish it gives is excellent and we didn’t experience any loss of pile or anything coming off the roller to cause a problem or spoil the finish at all. We washed the sleeve out thoroughly
and reused a few times and the roller stood up to this very well and still looks like new. This is a quality product that if taken care off will last well and offers good value for money. n
www.hamiltondecoratingtools.co.uk
NOVEMBER 2020 DIY WEEK 17
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