best spatulas for ink?

[terryei]

While still wearing the gloves I have for clean up, I just scoop ink with my hand and plop it in the screen.  Then when cleaning it up just scoop up with my hands and plop back in the bucket.

[alan802]

That ergo scoop that aauusa posted looks interesting.  If I ever order some ink from them hopefully I can remember to get a scooper to go with it.

[ZooCity]

While still wearing the gloves I have for clean up, I just scoop ink with my hand and plop it in the screen.  Then when cleaning it up just scoop up with my hands and plop back in the bucket.

That sounds awesome. 

We use cake knives all around, DK's link has very affordable ones but a bit flimsy compared to some other, more expensive ones.  The best ink knife/cake knife out there is the ateco ultra, squared off and sanded- flexible, the right length and lots of backbone. 

I also hate the goop scoops. They may be better sanded.  We do use one of the big alum deals with the "monkey thumb" or whatever it's called for scooping out of 5 gals into gallon buckets.  I thought that ergo scoop looked cool until I saw all the fins on the handle.  No way in hell do I want to clean ink out of that. 

Follow up ? to this thread- anyone have a great ink knife/scoop for WB?  We have some straight up stainless spatulas (wide), also from DKs link to try out. 

[Frog]

That ergo scoop that aauusa posted looks interesting.  If I ever order some ink from them hopefully I can remember to get a scooper to go with it.

They sell them as packages of 12, but you could probably finagle one to try.

[Homer]

i bought 6" long cooking spatulas from the dollar store about 6 years ago. The handles were offset, blades are stailess about 3" wide. They had a label from Bed, Bath and Beyond on them. I paid 1.00ea, I'd pay 5.00ea for them now. Can't find them anymore. We have 100 goop scoops, I hate them. they bend, break, stain and pastisol hardens on it...they all around suck but it's all I can find... The metal ones from suppliers are way too thin to hold ink. I want Action to make a decent ink knife. Price point around 10.00ea, that would be sweet.

[TCT]

I have had the hardest time finding something for 5 gal. buckets. Came across these the other day, just shaved the corners down a bit. The nice thing about them is they are sturdy enough to scoop white, and they have no "ripples" anywhere on them so cleaning them is a breeze!

http://menards.com/main/tools-hardware/hand-tools/drywall-tools/broad-knife/p-1801779-c-8951.htm

[alan802]

I'm beginning to think that there are different brands and compositions of the goop scoops out there.  I've never had one bend easily, or break, or have any ink dry up on one.  The complaints I'm reading just don't sound anything like the one's I've got.  They clean up easily however you choose to do it and they remove the ink as good as any other device besides a squeegee blade.  I've seen them in yellow and white, the white ones are a little stiffer and I think I have a few yellow ones that bend a little easier than the majority of them do.  I know we all do things differently and get different results with all of our products, but scooping ink really isn't one of those things that I would think would have that much subjectivity in their use.  I find this interesting.

[sweetts]

Here it is what I use http://www.waresdirect.com/products/Restaurant-Supply/Johnson-Rose-/Offset-Spatula-73426439
They are good AND cheap. A bunch or other sizes on the web site

Yep I ordered these they are nice and inexpensive

[jasonl]

I'm beginning to think that there are different brands and compositions of the goop scoops out there.  I've never had one bend easily, or break, or have any ink dry up on one.  The complaints I'm reading just don't sound anything like the one's I've got.  They clean up easily however you choose to do it and they remove the ink as good as any other device besides a squeegee blade.  I've seen them in yellow and white, the white ones are a little stiffer and I think I have a few yellow ones that bend a little easier than the majority of them do.  I know we all do things differently and get different results with all of our products, but scooping ink really isn't one of those things that I would think would have that much subjectivity in their use.  I find this interesting.

agreed!

[mk162]

That would make sense on the goop scoops.  I've broken several of them and the rest of them are way too flexible.  i like metal, but metal doesn't like discharge inks.

[inkman996]

Goop scoops turn to pieces of semi cooked lasagna if the ink is remotely thick. Cannot stand them.

[Admiral]

You guys that don't like goop scoops are using the wrong ones.  We use ones where the insert between the handle and the scoop part is angled so you can actually put it on the side of the ink bucket and keep the handle clean easily.  They don't bend much at all and of course are very inexpensive.  We had ordered 12-24 from someone else and the flex like crazy so they are terrible with thick inks / mixing.  They don't have an angle cut into it near the handle so you can't keep it on the edge of the ink bucket either.

I also don't want to use metal for fear of stabbing mesh, we use a lot of S thread mesh.

CRAP:



What I like:


We only use the large ones, work better for quarts than the small ones, much cleaner.  Also do people not tend to keep handles clean? I hate the downtime and messiness of ink on the handle part, so I do with the goop scoops had 1-2" longer handles(a few people have trouble keeping them clean so I have to make them clean it up after they use it)...

[JBLUE]

Sand down the corners on those white ones. I had to take mine away from the guys and sand them down. They were poking little holes along the tape line when scooping out excess ink.  They swore they were not causing the holes. It as soon as the sharp edges were gone so were the spontaneous holes
Appearing in the  mesh.

[inkman996]

You guys that don't like goop scoops are using the wrong ones.  We use ones where the insert between the handle and the scoop part is angled so you can actually put it on the side of the ink bucket and keep the handle clean easily.  They don't bend much at all and of course are very inexpensive.  We had ordered 12-24 from someone else and the flex like crazy so they are terrible with thick inks / mixing.  They don't have an angle cut into it near the handle so you can't keep it on the edge of the ink bucket either.

I also don't want to use metal for fear of stabbing mesh, we use a lot of S thread mesh.

CRAP:



What I like:


We only use the large ones, work better for quarts than the small ones, much cleaner.  Also do people not tend to keep handles clean? I hate the downtime and messiness of ink on the handle part, so I do with the goop scoops had 1-2" longer handles(a few people have trouble keeping them clean so I have to make them clean it up after they use it)...

Where are those white ones available?

[Homer]

I have both, I believe Nazdar sells the white ones, but I could be wrong, maybe it was atlas. . either way, they both suck for us. Maybe we are hard on our knives, I don't know but we go through them pretty quick.