Pro tip: switched from a trowel to a margin trowel for buttering bricks and it changed my speed

3 comments

3 Comments

Wait have you tried it for cleaning out mortar joints too? Cause that's where it really shines for me. The smaller blade lets you get into tight spots without gouging the brick face. I switched a few years back and now I grab my margin trowel way more than my regular one for most jobs. It's just better for control, especially if you're working on older brick that's a bit uneven.

johnflores2mo ago

Man, I gotta disagree hard on this one. A margin trowel is way too narrow for cleaning out mortar joints unless you want to spend all day picking at one brick. You lose the leverage you get with a wider blade, and that smaller handle cramps up my hand after twenty minutes. For uneven older brick, a standard 5-inch pointing trowel gives you way more reach and lets you clear a full joint in one pass instead of four. The extra width also stops you from accidentally scraping too deep into the soft brick face. Are you really not running into issues with the tip catching and chipping the edges?

the_jamie29d ago

Yeah that tip catching thing is exactly why I stick with the margin trowel. It's like using a smaller knife to chop veggies, you trade speed for control. Whole life feels like that tradeoff, picking the right tool for the job even if it takes a little longer.