PSA: Had a talk with an old mason yesterday that made me rethink my whole approach to mixing mortar

Guy's been laying brick since the 70s. He watched me mix a batch with a drill and paddle and just shook his head. Said I was whipping too much air into it. Told me to go back to a hoe and a tub. I thought he was full of it until he showed me his joints after a rain. No bleeding, no hairline cracks. Now I'm wondering how many jobs I screwed up over the last 5 years doing it the fast way. Any of you old school guys still mixing by hand or am I overthinking this?

2 comments

2 Comments

angelacooper4d ago

Man, this hits home. It's like every time I try to save a few minutes with some new tool or hack, I end up creating twice the work fixing the mess it made. Same thing happened to me with a cheap caulk gun once - thought I was being smart, ended up with a bead that looked like a drunk snail crawled across the window. Sometimes the old way is the right way, even if it takes longer.

rivera.keith4d ago

Heard that loud and clear @angelacooper, cheap tools always seem to cost more in the end.

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