W Rose is all i use, far better in my opinion than what seems to be the runner up (Marshalltown)

Those are some big boy trowels! :) I'm with you on the rise being fairly flat. I prefer that as well.

W.Rose got their start about ten minutes from where I live. Guys used to return trowels there for whatever reason (broken, worn down, etc) and Rose would just give them another. I’ll be in your neck of the woods this coming August for the Super Trowel competition. I’ll be looking to pick up a WHS to bring back to the states! Thanks for the comment.

I only had so much $$! 😆 Thanks for the comment!

A co-worker broke the tip off of his as well. Thanks for the comment!

I’m hoping to pick one up in the UK this summer! Thanks for the comment!

I agree 100%! Never beat the trowel against a block or wall! However, many of the guys I've worked with will just put their trowel in the bag at the end of the day, and cover their bag with a mortar pan, especially when working up high on scaffolding. Then a couple smacks against the wall in the morning. It's terrible, I know, but it gets done. Thanks for the tip about replacing the handle on a Marshalltown. Rose makes a "comfort grip" handle as well, but again, their name is felt by the hand on it. It's just something I don't like personally. I wish I could get a new "old stock" Marshalltown without their name on the handle! Thanks again for the comment!

Everyone I've ever worked with including myself smacks the trowel against the wall or a block to clean it when it's brand new you might clean it with water and a brush for the first few days but that comes to an end pretty fast

Ox trowels are made either in china or Taiwan , tyzack trowels are not made in the uk they are made in china or Taiwan . Marshalltown trowels carry a sticker made in the USA with global materials so the question would be are they made with Chinese manufactured steel . The w.rose trowels are manufactured in the u.s.a using American raw materials hence they do not carry the sticker made in the u.s.a with global materials.

@@brickbybric It seems that we are all in search of real forged carbon steel. Maybe the best trowel is the oldie but goodie you pick up up at a flea market and put a good handle on it, with the high pitched ring, has the true sound.

@@richardstetson8221 I cleaned my trowel everyday with a margin trowel at the end of the day for 40 years. Sometimes a wire brush. Shovel and wheelbarrow too. Only takes a few minutes. Mixed mortar with a mud box and a hoe for awhile. They got the same treatment. Be a professional. Keep your tools clean. And never beat on your level. A man that will beat on his level will beat on his wife.

Great questions. There is a specific reason as to why the Philadelphia trowel was made, but for now, trying out different shapes and sizes of trowels is fine. I really don't have a preference, but I usually have a 10 1/2" narrow London trowel. An 11" or bigger will usually bottom out on the floor when I'm spreading on the first course of block work. But really, I don't have a preference. As for the lime mortar, two things. You can go to 4:1, sand to lime, should make it slightly less sticky and more easier to work with. Also, make sure the bag of lime says "hydrated lime". That means it has already been "slaked" (in contact with water) prior to it being dried out and pulverized and put into bags. Any mortar, in general, is "caustic". Sounds scary, but is just means it will absorb moisture from your skin, drying it out, feeling like it's burning you but it's not. It's just rapidly drying out your skin. Just double check that the lime you're buying is "hydrated". Good luck!

@@masonry2018 Thank You. I will try the 4 to 1 mix, and check to see about the "hydrated" part.

You're absolutely right! Thanks for the comment! I should've been wearing some safety glasses.

Haha! No way would I want to work from a tub or mortar pan, at least not in a competition. Mortar boards all the way for the competitions. I do prefer a metal mortar pan when typically working, but I've never worked from one of those tubs I see in Europe. I'm not sure of the type of trowel Riel was using. I'll have to watch it again to check out his method. I'm bummed I don't get to compete this year. I have to take a year off because I won my regional (Pennsylvania) two years in a row. The regionals just started yesterday in Utah. I've gotta wait a whole year and it's gonna drive me crazy!

@@masonry2018 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/grCqeJlokrOuY4U.html if you look at this video you will see the trowel he is using riel voigt and glen potter came 1st and derek melo and David potter came 3rd both using European trowels using pick and dip method .most likely Dutch Arnhem pattern trowels. There is , I believe a 3rd guy in the competition using the Dutch trowel and also using pick and dip . If you watch from 1.10 you see the 3rd guy briefly. Riel and derek are featured in it for a decent period of time that you’ll get a good look at the trowels . Yes that was mentioned in commentary if you win your regional competition 2 years running but don’t win the big one you have to drop out for a year . I’m not sure if that’s fair .

Okay, for PRACTICE mortar, you should be using a 4:1 mix of just sand and hydrated lime, NO CEMENT! This is another area where terms are confusing in masonry. Right now, you may be using Type S Masonry Cement and sand. This makes for Type S mortar when mixed 3:1 (MC to sand). Type "S" mortar has a minimum strength of 1800 psi and maximum 2500 psi. Mortar strengths are in this order from strongest to weakest -- M,S,N,O,K -- and can be remembered in order with the words MaSoN wOrK. 3 parts sand to 1 part Masonry Cement. That is used for "real" work, or permanent work. This is where it can get confusing....There is also Type S hydrated lime. This letter "S" for lime has NOTHING to do with the strength-type of mortar it can eventually make. Most bags of lime will say "Type S" or "Type SA". Don't even worry about what the S means on the bag of lime and the "A" just means it has Air-entrainment properties, but don't even mind that either. You want to be using, for practice, just lime and bar sand. Your mortar should be white or off white as in these videos. If it is gray or gray/green, you're using real mortar, and making it way more difficult on yourself. Lime/sand mortar will get about as strong as a piece of chalk for a chalkboard after a few days, and that's it. Otherwise, it acts just like "real" mortar. You can take projects apart a month from now and re-use the mortar, over and over, after crushing it back into a powder, then just add water. If you like practicing, you can go the lime and sand route, or there is a product made by Spec-Mix that is a similar practice mortar. Sold in 80 pound bags, and can be re-used over and over again. I wish I was in Colorado, I'm in PA.

@@masonry2018 OK. Thank You.

Bon tool are great too

When you drop your trowel a couple times off the scaffolding, and have to do the walk of shame while you get made fun of to go get it, you hold it a little tighter! :) Thanks for the comment!

If you drop your trowel you buy the beer.

Thanks for the comment. Being from the states, I don't know much about WHS trowels. Do you know if Tyzack and WHS are the same company?

Snh global holdings own the whs / tyzack brands . The also own spear and Jackson And Neill tools . Neill tools were the last company based in Sheffield England to make the whs / tyzack brands in the uk . All the tool making equipment was shipped off to the far east so none of the trowels are made in England any more . Look up the history off Neill tools for all the history

@@brickbybric Oh man! Thanks for the info! I will look into it, but that's a bummer that they're being made elsewhere now. Someone had mentioned that the Tyzack was made in China, but I didn't think that was accurate. Guess they were right! Thanks again.

That was me . Did you say the ox trowel was made in America ? I’d like to see proof of that .

@@brickbybric Ox trowels are made in Taiwan. I emailed them and asked. I thought they were US or UK.

😂😂😂Thanks for the comment! I live about 5 miles from where Rose got their start. 12” is a big sucker. Every video is silly, and every video is confusing!