Talked to a mason from the 70s and he made me feel like a hack

Ran into this old guy at the supply yard who saw my pallet of bricks and asked what joint size I was running. Told him 3/8 and he just laughed, said back in his day everything was laid by eye and a string line. It got me thinking maybe I rely too much on spacers and not enough on just knowing the damn craft. Any of you guys ever had a master call you out on something?

4 comments

4 Comments

emma_lee221d ago

So how do you actually train your eye to the point where you can trust it on a full wall? I've tried going without spacers on small stuff like a garden wall and it's fine but I'm not sure I'd have the nerve to do it on a load bearing facade. Did that old mason just get that good from doing it wrong a thousand times or is there some trick to it I'm missing? Because I feel like spacers are a crutch but they also save me from having to tear out a whole course when my depth perception is off (which is a lot, honestly).

the_sage1d ago

Skip the spacers for a day. Run two courses with just your string and eye, you'll see where you actually are.

oliviabutler1d ago

So you're saying the secret to becoming a good mason is to just fail a whole lot in front of your customers? That's basically my entire business model at this point. I tried the no-spacer thing once on a retaining wall and my line looked like it was drawn by a toddler having a seizure. But you know what, the_sage is right, it did force me to actually look at the mortar joints instead of just trusting the plastic. My eye is still terrible though, so I mostly just squint a lot and hope nobody asks to see the level.

brooke4481d ago

Haha oh man, my first time trying that I had a nice little "learning moment" and ended up with a wavy mess that looked like it was laid by a drunk. But sage is right, pulling the spacers forces you to actually look at the line and adjust instead of just relying on the plastic. It'll feel sketchy at first but your eye catches up way faster than you'd think.