Patent ID: 7331081

Claim:
A trowel blade, comprising: a pre-finished, hardened and tempered blade having at least two apertures formed therethrough, each aperture having a cross section tapering from a larger opening in a bottom of the blade to a smaller opening in a top of the blade; at least two cleats, each cleat being disposed in one of the apertures and each cleat having: a lower portion, deformed within the aperture to have a frusto-conical shape mating with internal walls of the aperture; and an upper, inverted frusto-conical portion having a lower surface mating with an upper surface of the blade, and an upper shoulder, the upper shoulder extending upwardly from the lower surface of the upper portion and outwardly from a longitudinal axis of the cleat; the cleats being formed of an integral, rigid material and being collectively configured to provide a substantially rigid interface between the pre-finished blade and a removable handle of the pre-finished blade.