If you have ever remodeled your home, or spent several days removing old wallpaper, you have probably used a product similar to to this one, the Red Devil Wall Scraper/Spackling Knife. It’s a life saver!
Description
This wall scraper/spackling knife is made by Red Devil, and although they make a variety of these types of tools, this is model number 6210.
It measures about 8 1/2″ long, from tip to handle, with a flexible, (rather than a stiff) blade. The tip of the blade, which is made of stainless steel, measures 3″ in width.
The handle is ergonomically designed to relieve fatigue and stress. The handle is made of hard plastic and rubber, with a hole at the end that allows you to hang this up for storage.
Thoughts
Although Red Devil makes this same style wall scraper in a wider, 6″ model, I wanted the 3″ one to give me a little more control over my scraping job. I didn’t want to be digging into the sheet-rock and making any gouge marks!
This 6210 model is the perfect size for my small hand. It has the EZ grip, which allows me to hold it comfortably for several hours on end without my hand getting tired or sore. (Can’t say the same for my back, unfortunately!).
The blade is flexible, yet strong, and the end of the blade is not beveled, so I didn’t have to worry about this being too sharp and damaging my sheet-rock in the process.
The tool seems very substantial and feels good in my hand, it is not at all cheap and cheesy like some tools on the market today. The black secions of the handle are made of rubber, and there are several ridges there that help you to get a grip on the tool without your hand slipping.
The process of removing old wallpaper is tedious and messy. I had a spray bottle of hot water, which I sprayed onto the old paper. I’d let it sit a minute and then start scraping with my Red Devil 6210. The paper would start to come off, and it would be sticky and wet. However, this tool never slipped from my hands!
Although I have never used this for drywall, I would imagine it would work great for patching up any areas with spackling. The blade is firm and flat enough that you should have no problems smoothing out the mud. Although, I think I’d prefer a wider blade than 3″ for doing this kind of work. We did this years ago on our upstairs portion of the house, and I remember wider blades working nicely.
Although this Red Devil is called a Flexible Wall Scraper/Spackling Knife, I think of it as a glorified putty knife. It works well for scraping off old paint or wallpaper, and it’s easy to manoeuver because of the small blade size. Although the tip of the blade isn’t sharp, it’s thin enough to get under the fine layer of wallpaper, and scrape it off my wall.
I purchased this at Fred Meyer, in their paint section, and they actually sold quite a few other Red Devil products. I paid a little more for this tool, about $7.00 I believe, than some others they had on display, but the steel blade seemed firmer, yet flexible, which is exactly what I wanted.
Clean up is very easy on this tool. I simply washed the stainless steel blade with hot soapy water, and all of the sticky glue and dried on paper came right off. I always wipe it dry right away, as I don’t know if this material is prone to rusting or not, but I don’t want to find out. I have never had any rusting issues caring for it the way I do.
If you are looking for a good wall scraper to remove old paper or paint, I highly recommend giving this Red Devil 6210 a try!
