The Putty Knife is a specialty piece of grip equipment, used to place lighting instruments in places that would be otherwise difficult to position using conventional lighting stands. Production Students may add these Putty Knives to their equipment loan in an on-demand basis, no reservation necessary, and no access restrictions based on course-level.

The Putty Knife is essentially as described: a putty knife with a 5/8″ Baby Peg stud attached, for mounting lighting instruments, in accordance with the industry standard. Due to its unusual design, there are a variety of potential uses for the Putty Knife, some of the most common techniques being:

• Mounting in door-frames: with the door closed, the Putty Knife is inserted blade-first into the crack between the top of the door and the door-frame, with the Baby Peg pointing down. This allows a lighting instrument to be positioned overhead without needing a lighting stand, avoiding a stand from falling into a shot, as one such advantage.
• Used as a low-hat for lights: placed on the floor, Baby Peg pointed up, with the blade sandbagged, a lighting instrument can be mounted on the floor at an extreme low-angle — lower than possible using conventional lighting stands.
• Used as a wall-mount: using Gaff Tape, the blade of the Putty Knife can be taped to a wall, allowing a lighting instrument to be wall-mounted.

Please note that in these examples it should be understood that specific details concerning the instrument weight, ventilation space needed, and foot-traffic should all be taken into consideration when attempting to deploy the Putty Knife for grip purposes. Failing to do so could precipitate potentially serious injury to people or property. Users are responsible for safe and sound use of the Putty Knife in the field.