Used to butter my bricks for years till a mason called me out on it

I always thought buttering the head joint with a thick blob of mortar was the right move, made me feel fast. Then a job in Denver last fall, an old timer watched me lay a whole wall and said 'you're just making a mess, let the trowel do the work.' He showed me how to put just a thin smear on the end, and my joints actually came out clean and uniform. Now I barely touch the buttering and my walls look way better, but it took me like 12 years to unlearn that habit. Anyone else have a basic technique they had to relearn after thinking they had it down?

3 comments

3 Comments

troy_price1mo ago

Blows my mind how many guys still double-tap their joints without thinking.

the_paul1mo ago

@troy_price you're absolutely right, and I think part of it is just muscle memory at this point. I see guys my age who learned to roll back in the 90s and they still do that quick double-tap out of habit without even realizing it. The funny thing is, half the time they don't even need to do it anymore with how finely ground most flower is these days.

park.miles1mo ago

You ever watch someone do something wrong for so long that it just becomes their whole personality? My buddy Dave was the same way with double-tapping joints, would do it every single time without fail until his buddy @troy_price pointed out he was just packing dust for no reason. Took him a solid year to break the habit, and even now he still catches himself doing it on the first couple joints of a session. Funny how the little stuff sticks with you longer than the big lessons.