Oval Bricklaying trowel (8")

Blade length decides how much mortar you carry and how far you spread it in one stroke, and 8" is enough to load a bed for a brick and spread it in a single movement. Over hundreds of bricks that efficiency is the whole job: a shorter trowel means more trips to the board and more strokes per course, and the difference shows in how much wall goes up in a day.

The longer blade also reaches further across a block or along a bed joint, and it gives more blade to work the mortar with when you are cutting off the squeeze-out from a joint you have just closed.

The trade-off against the 6" is weight and control. A longer trowel is heavier at the end of your arm, which tells over a full day if you are not used to it, and it is more awkward in confined work — pointing, patching, small repairs and tight corners are all easier with the short one. Most masons own both.

The oval blade shape is rounded at the heel, which makes it easier to sweep mortar cleanly off the blade and to work into a corner.

High carbon steel is the right blade material because it takes a temper, and temper gives the blade its spring. Spring is what lets a mason flick mortar off the trowel and place it, rather than pushing it into position. The steel will rust if put away wet, and hardened mortar left on the face ruins the flatness — which is why cleaning the trowel is the last act of every working day.

The TPR handle grips with wet, mortar-covered hands and takes some of the shock out of tapping bricks down to the line.

The buyers are masons and bricklayers, block layers, building contractors, and renderers.

We stock the 6" trowel for pointing and repair work, plus plastering and notched trowels. Ask on WhatsApp and we will price a full set, delivered island-wide.