Customer at the Oakwood Ave. job taught me to wet my trowel before buttering the brick

Richard Dixon · 2026-09-30T03:45:04.234606+00:00

I was grumbling to this older guy named Sal on the Oakwood Ave. job about how my buttered ends kept sliding off when I set them. He didn't say a word, just picked up my trowel, dunked it in the water bucket, and handed it back. Next brick went on and stuck like glue because the mortar didn't get its water sucked out by the hot dry tool. Been doing it that way every summer since, and my wall lines have never been straighter. Anyone else got a trick like that, something dumb simple you picked up from an old timer?

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Customer at the Oakwood Ave. job taught me to wet my trowel before buttering the brick | Bricklayers - Opinions Matter