TECH TALK –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– mended” to any trade on their knees. Ken Ballin of Skyro Floors, West Creek, N.J., agrees with the ProKnees, and also names a good snap cutter (Sigma and Montolit are favorites) and a nice set of lev- els, preferably Stabila R-Beams, as his favorites. He also said a good source for diamond tools – and not just blades – is invaluable. “There are tons of great diamond tools for shaping, grinding, and cutting that don’t go on your wet saw,” he said, adding, “I’m a big fan of tiletools.com, contractorsdirect.com, and tools- 4flooring.com mainly because Steve, Mark, and Nick there are so supportive of our Facebook groups Tile Love 2.0 and Flooring Installers of America. They all contributed to my annual Christmas contest for those two groups and I really try to recommend them to everyone who asks me for my sources.” Mike Morley of Mike’s Quality Carpentry, McHenry, Ill., uses Spin Doctor Tile Spacers from RTC to eliminate lippage. “They are great,” he said. “The spacer is one-time use and they are $10.00 for 100. You can use the spinners over and over. My guys love them.” J a s o n Jones, of Jones Tile in Columbia, Ala., has a whole list of essentials, remarking, “Essential tools? How much time have you got?” Here goes: 1. Stanley FatMax 25’ tape. 2. Pencil (usually free ones I glom off reps ) 3. Knee pads: I prefer the leather kind with buckles. 4. A good snap cutter (I’ve got a shiny Montolit 29” I’ve had for a couple of months that I love). 5. Grinder (with proper blade and technique, you can get away with not using a wet saw often if you choose). 6. My Dewalt wet saw (I use it often anyways despite what I said in point 5). 7. Mixing drill and paddle. I’m using an el cheapo Harbor Freight drill lately and it works juuust fine. 8. One can never have too many buckets. 9. Margin and notched trowel. I use a euro notch more often than not anymore. Flat trowels for pans (along with a wood float for packing). 10. Lippage clips make my life Ken Ballin prizes a nice set of levels, pref- erably Stabila R-Beams. Eliminating lippage with the RTC Spin Doctor Tile Spacers is the way to go for Mike Morley. 70 TileLetter | 2019