Switched from a plastic trowel to a stainless steel one and my brick joints look 10x better

I spent like 3 years using those cheap plastic trowels you get at the hardware store, thinking they were all the same. Last month I grabbed a stainless steel Marshalltown trowel for about $18, and the difference is insane. The plastic ones flex too much, so my mortar joints always came out uneven and I'd have to go back and touch them up. With the steel one, the weight and stiffness let me strike joints in one smooth pass, no more second guessing myself. I actually finished my garden wall project in 3 days instead of the usual 5 because I wasn't fighting the tool. Has anyone else had that moment where swapping one tool made a stupidly big difference?

3 comments

3 Comments

claire_gibson6d ago

Gotta disagree hard here. I actually switched back to plastic after using steel for years, the lack of flex means you can't adjust pressure on the fly, so my joints ended up looking worse and I was gouging bricks left and right.

patricialee6d ago

Exactly! You gotta get the stiff plastic with the metal core, that's the sweet spot. The cheap all-plastic ones flex too much and the all-steel ones are like you said, no give at all and you're just hammering the brick. Try the Marshalltown Duraflex, it's got a steel center but a plastic outer layer so you get that flex back without the blade folding.

ellis.susan5d ago

I switched back too, now my joints look like I did them blindfolded.