Might well be a stupid topic... but...

What are professional trowels made of?

I've got a budget one which I started with and is now rusted as hell, as well as a mid-range one which is now pretty rusty too (for about 3 days I dried it and oiled it after use, but then couldn't be bothered!)

Is it normal for a trowel to have surface rust? Doesn't seem to affect the way it works at all, seeing as the edges are still clean.

Are professional plasterers trowels made out of stainless steel or some other non-rusting metal, or is rust just something which everyone lives with?

my trowels are all stainless steels so dont get the rust
but wen i did have a steel trowel use to have a rag and wd40 to protect it over night
but im a plasterer buy trade so was using it every day to keep on top off it

Ragni trowels are fine and they rust because they are not stainless. Marshalltown dont rust and are stainless. I have one of each plus a few specials.

Marshalltown cost about forty quid and ragni about twelve. If you look after the Ragni. it should outlast the stainless ones because the steel is stronger, at least in theory.

Mine is marshalltown and gets a quick rub down with glass paper before each use.

All my trowels, brick, mortar, pointing and skimming trowels are Marshalton and look as good as they day I bought them.

I have ragini, corner, bucket, small and pipe trowels. And they all look rubbish after 12 months!!

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Invested in a Mashalltown preworn stainless steel one. Haven't used it for a couple of years but it's spotless and rustless and lying in the garage. To remove some long-standing crusted on plaster, I left it in a bucket of water before scraping the eggshell layer (along centre of the underside) with no problems whatsoever.