Watched an old mason lay 500 bricks in a day in Charleston

I was in Charleston for a job last month and stopped to watch this guy working on a historic wall. He barely used any mortar and never once re-leveled a brick. Anybody here ever pick up tricks from just watching the old timers?

2 comments

2 Comments

lee_bailey659d ago

Watched an old guy doing stonework near Mobile and he never even used a level, just eyeballed everything

shanel138d ago

Bruh, that's wild. Eyeballing stonework is basically asking for trouble. You can't just guess at level and plumb when you're stacking natural stone that's already uneven as hell. That wall's gonna look like a funhouse mirror in a few years when the mortar settles and the whole thing shifts. Old timers might have a "feel" for it but even they mess up sometimes. Using a level takes two seconds and saves you from tearing it all down later. Honestly, that's just lazy craftsmanship dressed up as tradition.