the_nathan•11d agoMost Upvoted

Overheard a guy at the supply yard say he'd never seen a real brick corbel in person

I was picking up some sand in Omaha last week and this younger guy was asking about brick veneer. He said he'd only ever seen corbels in pictures from old buildings. It made me think about how many of the fancy details we used to put in are just gone now, replaced by simpler stuff or fake panels. We spent a whole summer in '98 building a house with a full brick cornice, and that skill feels like it's fading. Has anyone else had to teach an apprentice how to lay a proper corbel from scratch?

2 comments

2 Comments

victor_lane6011d ago

Used to think it was just about saving money, but hearing stuff like this makes me worry we're losing the craft itself. Taught my nephew how to do a simple corbel last fall, and he was amazed it was actual brick and not a glued-on piece of foam. That '98 cornice job sounds like a beast, and honestly, most guys wouldn't even bid that work now. Feels like if we don't keep showing the next crew how it's done, those pictures are all that'll be left.

skyler_baker11d ago

Wasn't there a whole article about this in the masonry magazine?