A hawk is a plasterer's tool. It consists of a board about 25 cm (9 inches) square with a perpendicular handle fixed centrally on the reverse. It holds the mixed working plaster and is held horizontally in the craftsman's non-dominant hand while the dominant hand uses a float (flat board with a handle) to apply the wet plaster to the wall and produce a smooth finish.
- - Quote - Shakespeare Hamlet,II,ii (1600), Hamlet says: 'I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw'. That is 'I know one thing from another'.
