An old bricklayer in Baltimore showed me how to butter a brick with the back of the trowel

Wendy Murphy · 2026-09-14T10:40:03.336296+00:00

Back in 2011 I was working a small job in Baltimore and an older guy named Ray was on the crew. I was spreading mortar the same way I always did and he stopped me and said "turn that trowel around, you're fighting yourself." He showed me how to pick up the mortar and butter the brick with the back side in one motion, no wasted moves. It felt clumsy for about 3 days, but by the end of that week I was laying almost 2 bricks faster per minute. Ray passed a couple years later and I still think about that morning every time I pick up a trowel. I push every new guy I train to try it his way first. Does anyone still teach the back of the trowel method or has it pretty much died out?

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An old bricklayer in Baltimore showed me how to butter a brick with the back of the trowel | Bricklayers - Librear