# Brick trowel



## denick (Feb 13, 2006)

Do you have a favorite brick trowel? length? Handle material? Other charecteristics? etc.


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

I prefer a Leather handled Rose, 10.5", but I sell mostly plastic handled Rose, 11".


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## jvcstone (Apr 4, 2005)

Personally, I liked the wood handled Rose trowels 10, 10.5, and 11
any bigger than that and I might as well had a shovel Always kept a little pointing trowel in my back pocket too.
JVC


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

Can't get wood handled roses in the last 5 or 8 years.


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## jvcstone (Apr 4, 2005)

I know-- still have one though. Seems to me when MPI was closing them out I bought several:thumbup: 
JVC


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

Yeah, and I had 50+ wood replacement handles and they are all gone now. Oh well.


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## Bigbricklayer (May 14, 2006)

*trowel*

I use a 12 inch plastic handle narrow london Rose. When I wear it down to 11 1/2 inches I replace it.


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## 6stringmason (May 20, 2005)

I use an 11" trowel from Marshalltown.


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## tkle (Apr 15, 2006)

6stringmason said:


> I use an 11" trowel from Marshalltown.


With the rubberized handle.About the only trowel anybody uses around here.The handles a bit slippery when wet though.


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## 6stringmason (May 20, 2005)

tkle said:


> With the rubberized handle.About the only trowel anybody uses around here.The handles a bit slippery when wet though.


Thats the one. :thumbup:


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## BreyerConstruct (May 22, 2006)

Gotta be a Rose.
I always used the rubber handled Marshalltown & thought the expensive, basic looking Rose was a joke. My M snapped in half, it's replacement is a wooden handled Rose (I couldn't find a leather wrapped one).

Awesome tool. Oh, I think it started out at 11", not sure what it's at now.

~Matt


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## stacker (Jan 31, 2006)

*two*

i use a 12 inch rose plastic handle for my block work.i use a wore out 10 inch wore down to about a 9in plastic rose for my brick.and i use an old wore out margin trowel to open my beer when i get off work if i cant find that damn opener.:whistling


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## tkle (Apr 15, 2006)

I've never had a marshalltown break,but they do tend to wear down quicker than a Rose.That's because they're lighter.Simple solution,buy a new one.They're cheap.


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## stacker (Jan 31, 2006)

*break*

i had a marshall town break on me when i was working a school in wichita.it was cold as heck that morning and the mud was freezing on the boards and back of our trowels.i went to hit my trowel on the block to get rid of some of the cement on the backside,and when i did,it broke.my cousin,who has been a mason for 40 years had never seen anything like it.


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## Double-A (Jul 3, 2006)

If you are discussing W. Rose brick trowels, they are owned by Kraft Tool Co. in Shawnee, KS.

According to the W. Rose site, wood handled models and replacements are available.

Rose website

Kraft Tools Website has a link to contact them for a distributor in your area.


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## tkle (Apr 15, 2006)

stacker said:


> i had a marshall town break on me when i was working a school in wichita.it was cold as heck that morning and the mud was freezing on the boards and back of our trowels.i went to hit my trowel on the block to get rid of some of the cement on the backside,and when i did,it broke.my cousin,who has been a mason for 40 years had never seen anything like it.


That's a good indicator,it's time to go home.


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## WilliamBolton (Apr 26, 2012)

I used to use marshalltown but the QRT cheap-o ones snapped for me also they did not bend. I like to use the Italian CO.ME brand because the rubber feels nicer. And they are made from tempered steel that bends so my wrist does not hurt. They cost a bit more but whats a few bucks if the thing last years. http://www.buddingco.com/Come-Italian-Tools-s/313.htm


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## NYCB (Sep 20, 2010)

tkle said:


> With the rubberized handle.About the only trowel anybody uses around here.The handles a bit slippery when wet though.


THe only think I don't like about them is when they begin to wear they leave black stuff on your hands.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

I used to use the leather handled ones by rose, but I just use the red marshelltown now a days. 

I know someone who has a gold plated one :laughing:


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## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

Another W.Rose user here....narrow London. Leather handle is preferred, but I have one of their ProForm handles too...nice. 9" & 10"...but I don't lay brick.


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## NJ Brickie (Jan 31, 2009)

Rose leather handle 10" with a low lift.


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

Kraft does own them now, but they're still made locally right around the corner from me.

And no philly either,...gotta be a narrow london! 

Best trowels ever made IMO.

Here's a little article I cut out of the paper years ago when the local press highlighted the business. I've been in this place, it's pretty dang cool! Your trowel starts life as a 1/2" blank before its punched out, beaten flat and hardened. 

Still one of the oldest, longest running businesses in the area...


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

Don't forget the chrome one too! :laughing:


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## CJKarl (Nov 21, 2006)

For brick and block I have a couple leather Roses. OLD. I never really worked a line on a big building, but I've seen what that can do to a trowel.
For stone I have a couple Marshalltown wood handles.


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

I use a Marshalltown 33/12 narrow london with a low lift handle for brick. For block i use a Rose 12" wide london with a high lift. As far as handles go,the MT has a wooden handle with a "crutch tip" wraped in duct tape. The rose came with a blue "comfort grip" with a screw on plastic bumper. Do not need it for block,but it came that way.



In the good old days,early '70s when a ton of buildings were getting built with brick and a half walls,i used a Marshalltown 33/13 narrow london,do not think my wrist could take that any more.:laughing::no:


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

Man, we resurrected this thread didn't we? :laughing:


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## cdkyle (Jul 12, 2009)

Like seven years of idle.


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## brickhook (May 8, 2012)

All my life I would'nt use anything but Marshalltown until the supply house unloaded some rubber handle Roses on me. Now I won't use anything else I love it!


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## stuart45 (Oct 7, 2009)

Many years ago I worked in Germany for a few months when work was tight here. The brickies there used trowels like this.
Not that good for speed, but good for opening beer bottles.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

Whah! That makes my arm sore just looking at it. Its like a hammer with the head going off to the side, just doesnt make sense.


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

What about those crazy trowels the guys were using in those timbrel vault videos. I thought they were the craziest looking trowel I'd ever seen until Stuart posted that pic

I like whatever trowel I'm using at the time. Haven't found one that I really like. Not a fan of the rubber gripped Marshaltown's. i have a big hand and I felt like I was getting arthritis using that one. It's my mixer trowel now. I prefer a Philly to a London, 10.5-11.5


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## stuart45 (Oct 7, 2009)

The Germans have a different method of working. They scoop the mortar out of tubs instead of rolling it on the board. They usually put enough on the wall for one brick and then lay it.
When they stucco a wall they used to scoop it out of the tub with a tool like a cooking pot and throw it at the wall, then trowel it up.


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

And i thought the Germans were supposed to be efficient

When i worked for the feds some of the guys went to France to work on the Vimy memorial. They had to familiarise themselves with french tools. The trowel they showed me had the same blade as that german trowel but a regular stem and handle. Very different balance though.


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## stuart45 (Oct 7, 2009)

dom-mas said:


> And i thought the Germans were supposed to be efficient
> .


I thought that until I worked there. They are always on time, but stand around drinking beer and snapps for the first half an hour.
One big difference to the UK is that the foremen really know their jobs.
We were building a large supermarket, but the foreman ran the job on his own and really kept the job together.
A job like that in the UK would have loads of 'suits' in the site offices doing next to nothing. Too much middle management has always been our problem.


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

stuart45 said:


> The Germans have a different method of working. They scoop the mortar out of tubs instead of rolling it on the board. .





There is a very different method to taking mortar from a tub as opposed to using a board. I'm fair at using a tub for brick however,i can "shape" the mud better and get a better spread using a board. As far as block or stone goes,i would rather use a tub. A tub is easier to keep mud tempered


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

A board is by far faster for block work. I mean probably increasing spread times by x2 or more.


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## Subia29 (Feb 18, 2007)

Wood handle only. Sports tape wrapped . Leather handle over rated.


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

JBM said:


> A board is by far faster for block work. I mean probably increasing spread times by x2 or more.


A guy had helping me on a job, insisted on working out of tubs. Actually a jerrycan cut in 1/2. It was so slow. Sure it kept the mud wetter longer but my mud was gone before it needed tempering. I was laying 1.5 block to his 1. I didn't really care because he was getting paid by the block.

The other thing was that I could use all the mud on my board and he was always leaving a trowel or 2 in the corners, sides and at the bottom as well


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## wazez (Oct 25, 2008)

Top one less than a year old
Middle one probably around ten years old 
Both were 13" when new.
Bottom one for the loaner. .....


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

hey you have the rubber bumper on the handle. My old Partner had that. His old boss had bought all his guys one when they were working on an indoor project and he couldn't stand listening to all the handle tapping


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## wazez (Oct 25, 2008)

dom-mas said:


> hey you have the rubber bumper on the handle. My old Partner had that. His old boss had bought all his guys one when they were working on an indoor project and he couldn't stand listening to all the handle tapping


Yeah I like the way it rides it my hand with it...seems I don't have to grip it as tight.


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## CJKarl (Nov 21, 2006)

dom-mas said:


> A guy had helping me on a job, insisted on working out of tubs. Actually a jerrycan cut in 1/2. It was so slow. Sure it kept the mud wetter longer but my mud was gone before it needed tempering. I was laying 1.5 block to his 1. I didn't really care because he was getting paid by the block.
> 
> The other thing was that I could use all the mud on my board and he was always leaving a trowel or 2 in the corners, sides and at the bottom as well


I have a Gator Pan. Think that's what it's called. It's a shallow tub or a board with sides. Best of both worlds. But I'm not doing 100 block lines either.


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## CJKarl (Nov 21, 2006)

http://www.troweltrades.net/product_info.php?products_id=8075

They do make a board also.


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## Rockmonster (Nov 15, 2007)

dom-mas said:


> And i thought the Germans were supposed to be efficient


A guy I worked with for many years, a German from Lebanon CT......he's probably 84 or so now......on the line, no one......I mean NO ONE could ever keep up with him on brick.....and he did pick and dip, like a lot of old timers......learned in GE, came here after the war.

He'll still do it too.......plus, he's never worn glasses, and will still jump from the staging.........sort of a physical freak.......oh, he does like his beer as well........


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## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

Rockmonster said:


> oh, he does like his beer as well........


There is hope for me in my old age then.


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## wazez (Oct 25, 2008)

CJKarl said:


> I have a Gator Pan. Think that's what it's called. It's a shallow tub or a board with sides. Best of both worlds. But I'm not doing 100 block lines either.


those look nice for a job I need to carry my board around...tho a little pricey.


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## dbrons (Apr 12, 2010)

> Man, we resurrected this thread didn't we?


tscars 10 1/2 is probably down to 8 inches by now.


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

CJKarl said:


> I have a Gator Pan. Think that's what it's called. It's a shallow tub or a board with sides. Best of both worlds. But I'm not doing 100 block lines either.





The gator pan makes sense to me, with a 30" size however, the boards are 24" square, way to small in my mind. I have never made a mortar board that was less than 30" square, no room to work the mud on small boards. If they were larger I may pop for some.


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

fjn said:


> The gator pan makes sense to me, with a 30" size however, the boards are 24" square, way to small in my mind. I have never made a mortar board that was less than 30" square, no room to work the mud on small boards. If they were larger I may pop for some.


It's interesting. I had the debate about mudboard size with the tub guy. He liked bigger boards for more mud, I liked having more material available. Plus by the time I've spread a decent bed there's lots of room on the board.


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## dbrons (Apr 12, 2010)

I've gotten used to a mud board after 25 years of using only steel mud pans on the east coast. Mud board is all anyone uses out here.

It's easier on my wrist I think to go straight in to the board rather than reaching down into the mud pan. Funny though, when I made the switch my wrist hurt like hell for a while till I adjusted.

Sometimes we have vertical steel every 8" and one way of spreading the wall is to load the mortar on the back of the trowel so your hand stays clear. Easy to do this with a flat mud board.
Dave


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

dbrons said:


> Sometimes we have vertical steel every 8" and one way of spreading the wall is to load the mortar on the back of the trowel so your hand stays clear. Easy to do this with a flat mud board.
> Dave




Very good point, you are correct, it would be extremely difficult to load the back side of a trowel with a tub.


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## patrick grey (Jun 13, 2013)

the trowel that stuart45 posted about are berlin pattern trowels or berlinerkelle.if ye want to see these trowels in use,have a look on youtube useing the search terms akkordmaurer, murer,the idea behind these trowels is you use one that is slightly longer than the unit your laying they make them in lengths between 180mm to 280mm they use the pick and dip method when laying,they might look strange but are great to use, very easy on the wrist.the germans and the danes work out of square tubs when useing them.


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