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The day I stopped using a standard trowel for pointing
For like 15 years I just used my regular brick trowel to point everything, even though it was a pain on long joints. Then on a big commercial job in Austin, the foreman saw me struggling and tossed me a pointing trowel he had in his truck. It was a 5/8" London style. I tried it and finished a whole wall section in half the time, no joke. My wrist wasn't killing me at the end of the day either. Anyone else have a simple tool change that made a huge difference like that?
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juliah232mo ago
Oh man, that hits home. I was the same way with my old framing hammer for years (you know, the heavy one). I'd use it for everything, even pulling nails, and my elbow would be screaming by lunch. Finally switched to a lighter finish hammer for trim work and felt like an idiot for not doing it sooner. It's crazy how we just stick with what we know even when it's clearly making the job harder.
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murray.rowan2mo ago
Ever notice how this happens with way more than just tools? Like we'll keep using a bad app or driving the long way to work just because we learned it first. Our brains really hate changing routines even when the new way is obviously better. It's like we get stuck in these little comfort zones that actually make life harder. Makes you wonder what else we're all putting up with just because it's familiar.
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gibson.robert1mo ago
Spot on about the comfort zone thing. Murray.rowan is right that it goes way deeper than tools. What's the ONE thing you still do the hard way just because it's routine?
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