The body of a pocket dry wall rasp also usually serves as the handle. Many pocket dry wall rasps will channel or collect the plaster shavings and dust within the body or handle.
Models with better-quality plastic handles have a rubberised area to improve the comfort and grip.
Blade
The blade is the perforated metal plate on the underside of the dry wall rasp that often resembles a cheese grater. The perforations in the metal blade may be referred to as the teeth.
Teeth
The teeth of pocket dry wall rasps are shaped in such as way as to allow the rasp to cut plasterboard on both the forward and backward stokes of the tool. Blades with coarse teeth (larger perforations in the blade) will remove more material, decreasing the time it takes to trim small amounts off the edge of plasterboard, while blades with fine teeth remove less material but give a smoother final finish to the edge of the plasterboard.
Guide rails
Guide rails are found on some models of pocket dry wall rasp. They help to guide the rasp and prevent the user catching their hands on the edge of the rasp or plasterboard.