That one old mason who taught me how to butter a brick properly

I was working on a small garden wall in Portland about 12 years ago when this retired bricklayer walked by my job site. He stood there watching me for a good five minutes before he finally said 'son, you're making that brick work too hard.' I thought I was doing fine, but he showed me how to load the mud on just one edge and let the brick do the work when you set it. He said he learned that trick in the 1960s from a guy who built chimneys for a living. I still use that method every single day and it saves me maybe 20 seconds per brick. Has anyone else had an old timer show them something simple that completely changed their technique?

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jamie7941mo ago

I still butter bricks like I'm frosting a cake...