Mortar rakes can be bought as part of a starter kit or individually. Which to choose is looked at in closer detail below.
Mortar raking starter kits
The components of a mortar raking starter kit are designed to fit onto your existing angle grinder and give you everything you need to get started.
From then on, all you should need to purchase are the replacement mortar rakes. Whether you need to do this will depend upon the extent of the work that you intend to carry out.
Mortar raking starter kits are designed to help users with depth control, dust removal and raking guidance – and include one or two mortar rakes to get you started.
What does a starter kit include?
Aluminium rings
The aluminium rings are included in a starter kit and are designed to fit over the wheel collar guard of your angle grinder, over which the sole plate fits.
Sole plate
The sole plate has a number of functions that make it useful for mortar raking. For instance, you can set the depth of the sole plate so that when you hit its square base, you know you’ve reached the set depth required.
The sole plate’s main body encases the mortar rake and channels dust/debris toward the outlet pipe and dust extraction unit.
It also has indicators on it that show exactly where the mortar rake will be raking.
Dust extraction
A dust extraction unit can be fitted to the outlet pipe of the sole plate. This unit removes the mortar from the area being worked on and into a vacuum.
This means the area is kept clear of debris and can be seen more clearly when working.
Individual mortar rakes
The price of individual mortar rakes varies considerably, depending on the material the mortar rake is made from and its size.
Mortar rakes made out of better quality materials like tungsten carbide, or those that are coated with diamond, tend to last longer and be more expensive.
Mortar rakes are designed to either cut out or grind through mortar; as a result, mortar rakes themselves will wear down with use and should be replaced when they are no longer working as efficiently.
Which do I choose?
Weigh up the costs
Buying a starter kit will initially cost more, but could save money in the long term as you will only need to buy all the necessary parts once.
A starter kit will include everything that you require to get started straight away with mortar raking.
Buying all the parts individually may cost more and there is a chance that there maybe slight variation in the fittings (e.g. threads) between brands so they wont work together.
Sizing
The disadvantage of buying a starter kit is it may not contain a mortar rake of the correct size needed for the job.
So you would need to buy the kit and then an additional mortar rake of the correct size, which together would cost more initially. However, you may well use the other mortar rakes in the future.