Andy, A veritable masterclass. Oh boy that brought back some memories..... I still have a couple of military knap-sacks that I used as tool bags. Assorted wood levels, wooden bat/closer gauges, wooden corner blocks, wooden setting out squares, wooden "over-sailing" gauge blocks. Linen tapes and on. I remember during the first week of my apprenticeship in the workshop we spent the first few lessons learning how to roll mortar off of a spot board. How to spread it evenly on a wall, furrowing the mortar, and good house keeping on the scaffold/work area. Imagine that today...!! When I started on site we predominately worked for a General Builder as you said, as did most of the trades. I remember a certain camaraderie and respect for other trades in those days - it wasn't quite so dog-eat - dog as today. A lot of the "Old Boys" I worked with had served in the forces during WW2 and smoked Capston full strength or weights cigarettes, and drank like fish, piss tanks to a Man...! Oh some very happy memories indeed, thank you Andy for invoking them. How are your eyes now - back to normal ? 😁👉👍👍👍👍
Thanks Martin really appreciate your input that's what it is all about, I forgot about line blocks we used to get the Chippy to make us posh ones from hardwood bannister rails.
i have all my grandads old brickie tools, he was setting bricks in his 80's small jobs but was always busy) he was boss brickie for sir robert llyod construction kown as llyodies, my father laid his trowel down at age 76 and am struggling at 60,, probably got a couple of years left,
Good video Andy . When i started the apprenticeship in 1983 we started in a technical college on what was known as a first year off the job training course . It started in September and ended in may . We were each issued a set of tools in the canvas bag . It had a Stabila girder level 1m long , Lump Hammer , brick hammer , double Scutching hammer, 4 inch bolster , 2 stone pitching chisels , boat level ( rabone Chesterman ) pointing trowel , emir pointing hawk , ck jointer, footprint line pins , roll of line , pair of corner blocks ,emir adjustable brick gauge . And an 11 inch wide London trowel or broad heel brick trowel . The trowel was controversial because the instructor hit the roof when he found out that the trowel was not Marshalltown . It was either ck or whs . We were paid a wage and they deducted a few bob every week to cover the cost of the tools . The emir company closed a few years back it was a shame to see such a fine English company going to the wall .
Hi Andy. I live in Pennine Yorkshire, nearly all stone but a bit of brickwork on inside/dividing walls (including some old brick, like soft handmade common brick and Accrington type face brick). For raking out here we've used plugging chisels and mortar hammers (one pointed end, one narrow chisel end) since at least the 70s, the hammer would probably chip neat cement mortar brickwork but you can run the hammer ends along softer lime joints. Finger trowels have been around a long time, I have an old one made in Sheffield, for mastic and pointing. We tended to treat brick pointing like stone - brush off with a rag/soft brush or use a wire brush to clean off aris/bring out rougher aggregate. Btw old stone walls have a double skin but rubble filled and with throughs. When using sandstone, we'd tip it outwards (put stone pins at back of a stone, also stops stone sinking under weight of following courses or tipping during building) so any water penetrating into the sedimentary beds would run back out of the front of the wall.
That took me back in time to when i started in the building trade early 70s, wish i could go back knowing what i know now. Thanx for that and enjoy the sun on your break away.
Sorry for the language, but this is fucking superb! That half hour just flew in....I could genuinely listen to you talking about old school bricklaying for hours on end. By the way, a 14" trowel? Holy shit, can you imagine how fucked their wrists would have been! 😮
Really enjoyed this video brought back a few memories. My first trowel was a WHS and it was 12 by 6 nearly killed me. Thanks Andy and enjoy the sunshine.
This video brought back some memories Andy, I started my apprenticeship in1978 in Crewe Cheshire and the bricklayer I worked under was about 61 if I remember correctly & he used a 4 foot level for levelling & a plumb rule for plumbing the same one in the video without the bubbles, he even used the same brick hammer. His trowel was only about 9 inch & the other bricklayers Nick named kipper trowel , however he had quality & quantity basically taught me everything I know he was a good teacher, he died in 1987 & I attended his funeral it was a sad day however I have found memories of him
Great video Andy. When I was a young an in the early eighties a chippy on site was building fitted wardrobes and he had a length of 3x1 with a 2 inch hole drilled in the bottom of the length. He drew a centre line along the length and fixed a pin to the top.He then hung his plumb bob from the pin and the plumb bob sat in the hole. Later on I was running a site in Mill Hill and had to demolish a front front
Hi Andy great viewing , did the exact same thing at college in early seventies we were taught to build small corners with plumb bob. Training apprenticeship etc was really good then. Over the years it seemed to fail,Enjoy Adeje I have😂
Used to live in Braintree, Essex, owned a house once built in 1927, bottom half face brick cavity, top half 9inch solid and render pebble dash. There was a step in the wall in the stair well.
Great video as always Andy . We all had replica army kit bags for school in the early 80, we used to draw all over them , mine was covered in mod and ska bands . My first levels were Rabone Chesterman and our stick jointers were made from 10 mm hardwood about 12” be 4” . You got lovely straight beds as they didn’t follow each brick like the steel ones. We were working on a big square office built in block so I took my Blake’s in and the The miserable old get I worked for said put those effing things back in the van ! We never got on 😒🧱👍🏼
What a pleasure to listen to you and your yarns of past tools yes I recognise all of them too, you old kogger, all rugged up at the ver least it was bright... me remembering those bitterly cold and wet/damp days... You sound so much better without the F words and am sorry bout eye surgery with hope's all well now and your treat a little sun on ya back again.... with eyes sorted just have to get into a better diet Ah! Originally from Brighton and full 5 year bloke at Lewis Tech... been out of that cold grey south-east 22 years watching your struggles over a 12 month period always reminds me where not to be, however Nowhere like the just outside Brighton June July and August always missed once again you both have a lovely break Malc's in Hillarys Perth WA ❤❤
Reminds me of my grandfathers shed, being very rural, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire border, all the farmers guys had a trade too. Loads of different construction hand tools from early 20th century. Wish i knew what happened to them know 😕
Good memories there,my old dad taught me all these things.He was an awesome bricklayer and very skilled,i am just a house basher,but good at it.Enjoy your holiday and get in the sun.Towards to end of my dad’s retirement,him and my mum would go to Tenerife for 3 months in the winter.Good luck and health to you Andy .
interesting vid andy ,iv got one of those "dog irons " belonged to my dad , some one told me they were made to connect large timbers together in barns etc. like a giant staple ? certainly remember the kit bag there was an army surplass store down walthamstow market sold them
Lovely lot of info thanks Andy I've got an old plumb Bob that used to belong to my grandad and dad they were carpenters I use it some times for up righting trusses . Have a nice one in tenerife 👍
Brilliant video Andy, thanks very much for that 👍 I've started a collection of old tools, only got a few of my grandads old wooden rules/tapes/planes/trowels etc at the minute. I'm going to put them in the pub shed when I get chance to finish it haha
I started my apprenticeship in 1985. Advanced city and guilds. No short cuts back then. Nice to see the old whs. My 1st one was a 12" LH london pattern. Nearly broke my wrist with it. Your right. To cold for mixing , but you still see brickies doing it. Probably have a boss who thinks he knows better , cracking the whip. I'm my own boss so I'm not buggering my own work up this week. Thoroughly enjoyed your tool history lesson. Enjoy sunning your back next week.
I’m from Ireland heading there in 6 months for a year hopefully,I’ve a lot of friends there 10years + they work between the mines and the sites,Ireland is like a big plantation now,foreign people are been housed over Irish people,most of these are unskilled and have nothing to offer the country.
Hi I just want to say that I was working on a late victorian house in hertfordshire a few years ago, doing some repointing and brick repairs, I discovered that the cavity was insulated with what appeared to be loosely packed cotton wool and the cavity walls ties were half inch square steel, twisted in the middle and with splayed ends, I had never come across anyting like before (or since).
Great video Andy,,,like a lot of the comments could listen to you for hour's...remember having to use the plumb Bob level at college but it was tapered...hope your eye's on the mend 🤞....worked on a job a few year's ago nobhead on the job could do anything better than anybody else ..if you've been to tenerife he's been to elevenerife 😂😂have a good 1🍻
We had a guy like that on a small Cambridge based company, he was more qualified than anyone, done everything known to man and been everywhere. That elevanarife quip was how I was introduced to the knobber 😂 Up the spurs 👍🏻
Great video Andy. I served my time with my dad and he had every one of those tools you showed us. We are Scottish but he loved those London style brick hammers
A Brilliant upload by Andy so much information on these old bricklaying tools and even the bags they used thanks for sharing it all Andy be good to get more uploads on bricklaying heritage tools and ways of working! Hope your eye heals well and enjoy the sun in Tenerife Andy 🍻
That brought back some memories my dad had both tapes you showed the round one with the red dot in the centre and the setting out tape brown leather casing with a brass wind in handle
The two meter folding rule is still the standard here in Norway, I see the odd retractable, but not many. I was amazed when I first came here as I'd only seen them in the books! From the early 80s I've always made my own finger trowels by cutting down cheap pointing trowels, handy tool to have in a few different sizes. Agree with you about the rubber tube, I've done a lot of reclaimed work on barns and extensions and preferred a piece of fan belt, I picked up a big heavy one off a tractor, wore pretty well and of course plenty of spare for new ones. Have a good weekend and trip to the sunny isle mate, I'm off in a minute to shovel the snow off the house, garage, shed and chicken coop... really looking forward to that, hence draggin' my heels watching you lol!
Really enjoyed that Andy .Still got my original bucket handle i was given as an apprentice also my plumb bob which i used to use building brickwork around existing flat roofs for a builder. Remember the old cawley levels aswell gone now not seen one in years do you still have one be interesting to show off one of them . Enjoy the sun mate 👍💯🧱🧱
I used to own a Cowley, great bit of kit, you can also do falls with them, they also did the site square. Last time I looked on ebay there were some Cowleys for sale 👍
We did the falls with them in college Andy great surveyors tool .The old bricklayer who tought me on site had one .Then i went over to a dumpy level.I still use a dumpy now .Yea the cowley level a forgotten tool but very useful mate 1990 i last used one of them 👍
@@brickrightbuildinglandscaping I lent mine to someone in the 80s and they dropped it, bought a dumpy after that brilliant kit, Karl Jeiss Jenner with a quick set up system and calibrated base for setting a square.
@Jim_Newlands Hi Jim I remember the stress of it not the easiest thing to set up and use it had to be just right didn't it .Dumpy levels easier to use but ive a soft spot for the old cawley 🤣👍🧱🧱
I had a bag like the one Andy showed. A lot of men used to have empty gas mask bags, made of thinner cloth, to bring their snap ( sandwiches ) and a flask which would poke out of the top. Chippy's hessian tool bags were popular for small hand tools. When you lay them down they are open with the tools ready to go, but I never liked them, preferring an open wood tool box with a 2x1 handle running end to end. The reason being in a wood box tools are banged about less, but could be still be carried in one hand, leaving the other to support yourself or open doors etc.
My first job was as a 'chain boy' for the Ordinance Survey' though by that time they had already switch to EDM so all I had to do was hold a pole against a wall (though that wall could be in some interesting places!) Best of luck with the stitches Andy!
You could strip the yellow paint of the stabilas, There was a shop in Perth West Australia that used to refurbish them and there trade mark was to strip the paint of 👍
@@bricklayersworldwithandy6277 I remembered a bricklayer I worked with used a bit off sheet metal cut out like a tooth sticking out and he used that to rake out cheers mark
yes i have the plumb bob level without the bubbles has brass running down each side of the wood,,, i watched fred dibnah use one to to check the plumb on beaumaris castle he then used an up to date level and it was spot on plumb,
Old postie's mail sack was a good tool bag, not like the shit they have today, odd bit of copper pipe for pointing up, did a fair job, your encyclopedic knowledge is unchallenged Andy. 👍
Apparently Lintols were introduced after ww2 because so many bricklayers lost their lives fighting, that hardly any bricklayers were capable of building arches over window/ door openings.
Andy, I'm a 62yr old carpenter and in my younger days the brickies who used a WHS used to call them Work Hard and Starve Was that the right saying or is it Work Hard or Starve.....Love your videos mate
I got given a pair of very similar pins from an old Cambridge roofer, he couldn't remember where he came about them. Never used them so gave them to me 👍🏻
Couple of add ons a lot of trowels used wide heel trowels better for 9 inch work the ones with the steel end caps yu couldn't hit you level with it like "certain" people do today it would have been like a chewed stick in a week Friday used to be rubbed down with a rag soaked in linseed oil plumb rules used to be made on site using floor board usually about 4/6 inches wide with a pear shaped hole and a pear shaped lead quite heavy 1/1/2 pound to help it settle quickly and a sort of staple made out of a nail at the bottom to stop it swinging about gauge rods and datum pegs wer use a lot more some useto have a brass plate on the bottom to stop them wearing out they cut the marks with a tenon saw narrow kerf ....great video andy now you need to do one on the delights of building partitions and boxing in and cupboards in 2 and 3 inch breeze blocks with floor to ceiling profiles to keep the steady 2 and 3 course at a time 🥺
My tutor at langs bricklayers college was a YID as well, coys 🤣, first ever game I went to was the 1982 F.A CUP FINAL, went to the first game with my "UNCLE" 🤣, WITH A TOTTENHAM HAT AND SCARF, which I still have to this day, after QPR'S late equalizer which made it 1-1, my " UNCLE" 🤣, God rest his soul, took me to the replay in midweek, maybe the Wednesday, don't quote me on it tho, I was only 9 years older! 😂, but he bought me a proper QPR KIT! , HAT SCARF, AND BANNER, PROGRAM, 🤣, AND WE BUNKED IN TROUGH THE TURNSTILES, WELL..... HE TREW EM A FEW QUID, GOOD OLDE DAYS, IF MY MEMORY SERVES ME RIGHT, HODDLE SCORE A PENALTY, ENDED 1-0 SPURS, KICKED OFF IN WEMBLEY BOTH GAMES 👊, I BECAME A MAN EVEN THO I DIDN'T KNOW IT AT THE ⏰!!!, BEST WEEK I EVER HAD, IM A 99,999 % R'S SUPPORTER, AFTER THAT GLORIOUS WEEEK IN MAY I THINK 82! STILL AV A SOFT SPOT FOR THE YID ARMY TO BE HONEST, FCK PALESTINE 🤣, THATS A DIFFERENT STORY, ALL I KNOW IS CURRY IS HOTTER THAN HODDLE 🤣, LOVE YOUR VIDS ANDY, ANY YOUNG ASPIRING BRICKIE WOULD BE HONOURED FOR YOU TO Share YOUR KNOWLEDGE, THEY DON'T MAKE EM LIKE THE USED TO ANDY, THE 🌎 IS FCKED MATE, TAKE CARE , GOOD LUCK 👍, cum onnn you RRRRRRRRRRR'S, SUPERRRRRRRRR HOOOOOOOPPPPPPSERRRRRRRR 🤣
Thank you my friend, i was not actually at the game i was in Perth West Australia and watched it silly oclock, mad days them with the Falklands war going on 👍
Nice video Andy. The chain and the furlong. The furlong is a measurement that goes all the way back to ancient Egypt so I imagine the chain does too. The ancient city of Jerusalem is mapped out in furlongs. Here is one to make you think. We know there are 10 chains in a Furlong but how many inches are there? 7920 inches in a Furlong. Almost exactly the diameter of the earth in miles, within six miles to be precise. Clever them old Egyptians.
@@bricklayersworldwithandy6277 Andy, sorry to come back during drinking hours but I have a question that I am struggling to get a clear answer on. 3/4 Brick. Standard size and the max and min. I no longer have my WG Nash books, lent them out bla bla bla.
The house I live in is a real odd ball, built in the early 1920s has a slate dpc built in lime mortar but it has cavity walls. I'm just outside London.
Andy taking in to account bricklayers being expected to lay a thousand a day on rough work and 500 a day on face work in the book you mentioned in the video . In what time frame would you expect apprentices ( who are been intensively trained ) to start achieving the same out put as a qualified tradesmen laying to the line . In the Galbraith book ,taking into account that in his day the whole building would be built with brick and there was a lot of rough work walls to practice on ,he reckoned that it was best to teach the apprentice to lay brick fast first and neatness will come instead of teaching them to lay perfect brick first and expecting speed to come . If ,for talk sake you take a 4 year apprenticeship period and I’m talking just laying to a line ,what would your expectations be of an apprentice that’s applying himself be . If I’m remembering correctly Galbraith expected an apprentice to be able to do the same amount as a qualified man in about 6 months when filling in between corners.
a question for you which i have asked on other channels and no real answers yet, how were the brick tunnels made such as those in dover and across the country in old mines and for that matter the victorian sewers in london. i know to make an arch in a wall we use a former, but the bricks are laid from the outside, how did they get those bricks so straight and true as they wouldnt have been able to brick from the outside and also if a former was used it couldnt have been very wide as surely they would have to fill the voids on the top and sides as they built and would have to be able to reach inside to do so. ive seen [pictures of an old lead mine somewhere in the midlands where they have used blocks of stone to line the tunnel with no mortar , perfectly formed, and even splitting into two tunnels , again perfectly shaped and seemingly tight to the sides and top. there must have been a common way of doing these tunnels all over the country do you think? would they have dug out and bricked at the same time and how did they manage in unstable ground? also i notice in the tunnels at dover parts were bricked and other parts were not, any idea why? the mind boggles at the sheer amount of work and effort to dig out and as for the brickwork, well would anybody be able to do it to day? i doubt it. cheers
All the pictures I've seen it seems they excavated the whole tunnel, built, the brickwork then backfilled it.The arch former was on rails and moved forward once the brickwork had set. One of my first jobs was working in the London sewers drilling holes in the walls and pumping a grout into voids that had formed.I guess these voids were originally created by bad back filling and became worse over time.Nowadays tunneling machines are used with concrete sections.
@@bricklayersworldwithandy6277 thanks for reply, still a bit of a mystery how they squeezed those bricks between tunnel walls and former, and managed to keep it straight and the joints nice and flush, the tunnels in dover are a brickwork master piece, they must have done a small bit at a time i reckon otherwise they wouldnt have been able to reach inside to backfill, maybe im right or maybe not?
@xl5006 It might be worth contacting the I.C.E (The institute of Civil Engineers) They have lots of historical stuff on tunnels, and methods of their construction. I am almost certain they will be able to answer your question.
@@martin2466 i had a look and it seems that there were 2 gangs of brickies working either side to bring up the side walls using wooden profiles, no former as such, and then it was left to one brickie to finish the top and bring it together. they put small brick piers on the outside at equal spacings to support the walls leaving large voids it would seem. the miners would be digging out and the brickies following behind, working in tamden i suppose, interesting that any clay dug out was reused to make bricks. lot of hard work, especially for the labourers.
I hope that wasn't the final fling of the tools with a fuck IT I'm retiring then went to the pub because the longer you stay in there the better that thought will seem🍺🍺👹
Good video Andy, when did the sthil saw or its counterparts come into play? And how did we cut more intricate bricks to shape beforehand? That might make for a good video. Have fun on your hols.
We only had 9inch grinders, bought my first one early 80s, Sthil saws were were probably about and expensive them days but I was on domestics so no need. I've always associated them with concrete blocks so keep well away 😁. Generally softer bricks were used for carving and hand tools were kept sharp.
We didn’t use a level for plumbing brickwork we had a plumb rule , a pain to use when it was windy,all the bricklayers had them and insisted the apprentices used them , they were made by a carpenter
Started my apprenticeship 1958 was fifteen all the bricklayers and carpenters had one ,took mine when I did my city and guide the examiner hadn’t seen one in years
The old wooden level you had was my first level ,a level and vertical glass bubbles, you only had to knock the level and the bubbles would e out ,the upright one was the worst as you had to get them out from the hole in the side and reset them in plaster of Paris,we were lucky in our town as they used to stock glass bubbles in all sizes,nobody ever believed it when you said I’m going down the shop to get a bubble for my level 😂
Andy,
A veritable masterclass.
Oh boy that brought back some memories.....
I still have a couple of military knap-sacks that I used as tool bags. Assorted wood levels, wooden bat/closer gauges, wooden corner blocks, wooden setting out squares, wooden "over-sailing" gauge blocks. Linen tapes and on.
I remember during the first week of my apprenticeship in the workshop we spent the first few lessons learning how to roll mortar off of a spot board. How to spread it evenly on a wall, furrowing the mortar, and good house keeping on the scaffold/work area. Imagine that today...!!
When I started on site we predominately worked for a General Builder as you said, as did most of the trades. I remember a certain camaraderie and respect for other trades in those days - it wasn't quite so dog-eat - dog as today. A lot of the "Old Boys" I worked with had served in the forces during WW2 and smoked Capston full strength or weights cigarettes, and drank like fish, piss tanks to a Man...!
Oh some very happy memories indeed, thank you Andy for invoking them.
How are your eyes now - back to normal ?
😁👉👍👍👍👍
Thanks Martin really appreciate your input that's what it is all about, I forgot about line blocks we used to get the Chippy to make us posh ones from hardwood bannister rails.
Brilliant. Im not a bricky but i love all the old history and tools, uses. Lovely video . Subscribed and a thumbs up .
i have all my grandads old brickie tools, he was setting bricks in his 80's small jobs but was always busy) he was boss brickie for sir robert llyod construction kown as llyodies, my father laid his trowel down at age 76 and am struggling at 60,, probably got a couple of years left,
67 pension🙁
Your a wealth of knowledge, could listen to you all day
Thanks for the information. I still use my great grandfather plugging chisel and bolster now just better steel
Good video Andy . When i started the apprenticeship in 1983 we started in a technical college on what was known as a first year off the job training course . It started in September and ended in may . We were each issued a set of tools in the canvas bag . It had a Stabila girder level 1m long , Lump Hammer , brick hammer , double Scutching hammer, 4 inch bolster , 2 stone pitching chisels , boat level ( rabone Chesterman ) pointing trowel , emir pointing hawk , ck jointer, footprint line pins , roll of line , pair of corner blocks ,emir adjustable brick gauge . And an 11 inch wide London trowel or broad heel brick trowel . The trowel was controversial because the instructor hit the roof when he found out that the trowel was not Marshalltown . It was either ck or whs . We were paid a wage and they deducted a few bob every week to cover the cost of the tools . The emir company closed a few years back it was a shame to see such a fine English company going to the wall .
Yes we were given a similar kit but never had to pay for it.
Hi Andy. I live in Pennine Yorkshire, nearly all stone but a bit of brickwork on inside/dividing walls (including some old brick, like soft handmade common brick and Accrington type face brick). For raking out here we've used plugging chisels and mortar hammers (one pointed end, one narrow chisel end) since at least the 70s, the hammer would probably chip neat cement mortar brickwork but you can run the hammer ends along softer lime joints. Finger trowels have been around a long time, I have an old one made in Sheffield, for mastic and pointing. We tended to treat brick pointing like stone - brush off with a rag/soft brush or use a wire
brush to clean off aris/bring out rougher aggregate. Btw old stone walls have a double skin but rubble filled and with throughs. When using sandstone, we'd tip it outwards (put stone pins at back of a stone, also stops stone sinking under weight of following courses or tipping during building) so any water penetrating into the sedimentary beds would run back out of the front of the wall.
Mortar pick not mortar hammer.
Thanks, some interesting stuff 👍
Thanks for your knowhow.
That took me back in time to when i started in the building trade early 70s, wish i could go back knowing what i know now. Thanx for that and enjoy the sun on your break away.
Used to have one of those bags as an apprentice in the late 70s and ride my bike to work with my level tied to the frame 😅
That was like watching Tommy Cooper 😂 walking back and forth👍👏👏👏 i loved it. Have a great holiday.
Even as a mere carpenter & Joiner I found that fascinating. Thanks Andy ,really enjoyed that. All the best Ade. 👍
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks mate 👍
Sorry for the language, but this is fucking superb! That half hour just flew in....I could genuinely listen to you talking about old school bricklaying for hours on end. By the way, a 14" trowel? Holy shit, can you imagine how fucked their wrists would have been! 😮
thanks mate, yes to big for me i used a 12 in Ozz and it ruined my elbow 👍
Really enjoyed this video brought back a few memories. My first trowel was a WHS and it was 12 by 6 nearly killed me. Thanks Andy and enjoy the sunshine.
I worked with a old brickie andy on maintinance,he still used a plumb bob level with line and a cut out for lead at bottom ,that was in the 1980s 😊
A chain by a furlong ( 10 chains) equals an acre
I love these old measurements
Grand video Andy
Thoroughly enjoyed that Andy.. have a great time on holiday...thanks
This video brought back some memories Andy, I started my apprenticeship in1978 in Crewe Cheshire and the bricklayer I worked under was about 61 if I remember correctly & he used a 4 foot level for levelling & a plumb rule for plumbing the same one in the video without the bubbles, he even used the same brick hammer. His trowel was only about 9 inch & the other bricklayers Nick named kipper trowel , however he had quality & quantity basically taught me everything I know he was a good teacher, he died in 1987 & I attended his funeral it was a sad day however I have found memories of him
Thanks Daniel that's a great story, yes there were some proper trowels and characters about in the day 👍
Great video Andy. When I was a young an in the early eighties a chippy on site was building fitted wardrobes and he had a length of 3x1 with a 2 inch hole drilled in the bottom of the length. He drew a centre line along the length and fixed a pin to the top.He then hung his plumb bob from the pin and the plumb bob sat in the hole. Later on I was running a site in Mill Hill and had to demolish a front front
Hi Andy great viewing , did the exact same thing at college in early seventies we were taught to build small corners with plumb bob. Training apprenticeship etc was really good then. Over the years it seemed to fail,Enjoy Adeje I have😂
Used to live in Braintree, Essex, owned a house once built in 1927, bottom half face brick cavity, top half 9inch solid and render pebble dash. There was a step in the wall in the stair well.
Worked on one like that in Witton!
My father used a plumb rule in Ireland but their was no bubbles. I have a picture of him using it on a chimney.
Thats the one we had to use in College.
@@bricklayersworldwithandy6277
Couldn't afford a bubble level. Grandfather made the plumb ruler he was a carpenter.
Great video as always Andy . We all had replica army kit bags for school in the early 80, we used to draw all over them , mine was covered in mod and ska bands .
My first levels were Rabone Chesterman and our stick jointers were made from 10 mm hardwood about 12” be 4” . You got lovely straight beds as they didn’t follow each brick like the steel ones.
We were working on a big square office built in block so I took my Blake’s in and the The miserable old get I worked for said put those effing things back in the van ! We never got on 😒🧱👍🏼
Lol, so you are a Specials fan 👍
Fantastic video Andy cheers mate.
Very interesting video that Andy , have a good holiday Thanks 🍺😀👍
Brilliant Andy loved it , have a great time in Tenerife 👏👏👍👍🍺🍺
Now, this is a traditional old school, Bricklayer very good knowledge, another brilliant watch keep up the good work Andy 👍
Thanks 👍
What a pleasure to listen to you and your yarns of past tools yes I recognise all of them too, you old kogger, all rugged up at the ver least it was bright... me remembering those bitterly cold and wet/damp days...
You sound so much better without the F words and am sorry bout eye surgery with hope's all well now and your treat a little sun on ya back again.... with eyes sorted just have to get into a better diet Ah!
Originally from Brighton and full 5 year bloke at Lewis Tech... been out of that cold grey south-east 22 years watching your struggles over a 12 month period always reminds me where not to be, however Nowhere like the just outside Brighton June July and August always missed
once again you both have a lovely break
Malc's in Hillarys Perth WA ❤❤
My mate Mick was in Hillarys two weeks ago👍
Reminds me of my grandfathers shed, being very rural, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire border, all the farmers guys had a trade too. Loads of different construction hand tools from early 20th century.
Wish i knew what happened to them know 😕
Good memories there,my old dad taught me all these things.He was an awesome bricklayer and very skilled,i am just a house basher,but good at it.Enjoy your holiday and get in the sun.Towards to end of my dad’s retirement,him and my mum would go to Tenerife for 3 months in the winter.Good luck and health to you Andy .
thanks mate appreciate that 👍👍
Thousand imperials a day's a bit strong!
Great video
Yep a lot of people forget the size of them, up North some were a lit bigger.
Easy on 9 inch work. 74 year old bricklayer. My best was 1,470 commons in a Lift shaft 8ft square with just a level and strait edge,.Fair faced.
interesting vid andy ,iv got one of those "dog irons " belonged to my dad , some one told me they were made to connect large timbers together in barns etc. like a giant staple ? certainly remember the kit bag there was an army surplass store down walthamstow market sold them
That's exactly what dogs were for.
I remember that stall.
Love all this Andy . Jacket looks great too😂
I knew you would like it 👍😁
Very informative Andy really like to pick up the knowledge of you experienced guys. Enjoy Tenerife ☀️
Lovely lot of info thanks Andy I've got an old plumb Bob that used to belong to my grandad and dad they were carpenters I use it some times for up righting trusses . Have a nice one in tenerife 👍
Really interesting. Thanks for sharing your knowledge
Brilliant Andy, have a beer for me mate, put your feet up!
Brilliant video Andy, thanks very much for that 👍 I've started a collection of old tools, only got a few of my grandads old wooden rules/tapes/planes/trowels etc at the minute. I'm going to put them in the pub shed when I get chance to finish it haha
Glad you enjoyed it
Excellent video, I enjoyed that
Just back from Tenerife , good food cheep beer loads of sun enjoy Andy
Nice video Andy, thank you for the knowledge.
I started my apprenticeship in 1985. Advanced city and guilds. No short cuts back then. Nice to see the old whs. My 1st one was a 12" LH london pattern. Nearly broke my wrist with it. Your right. To cold for mixing , but you still see brickies doing it. Probably have a boss who thinks he knows better , cracking the whip. I'm my own boss so I'm not buggering my own work up this week. Thoroughly enjoyed your tool history lesson. Enjoy sunning your back next week.
👍
Great video Andy. Reminded me of the stories my grandad used to tell me. He was a bricklayer in Ilkeston before coming to Aus.
Where in aus are you mate
@@deet1558 in Perth mate
I’m from Ireland heading there in 6 months for a year hopefully,I’ve a lot of friends there 10years + they work between the mines and the sites,Ireland is like a big plantation now,foreign people are been housed over Irish people,most of these are unskilled and have nothing to offer the country.
@@deet1558 that’s interesting,well plenty of work here mate. Lot of Irish fellas making a go of it here already 👍
Hi
I just want to say that I was working on a late victorian house in hertfordshire a few years ago, doing some repointing and brick repairs, I discovered that the cavity was insulated with what appeared to be loosely packed cotton wool and the cavity walls ties were half inch square steel, twisted in the middle and with splayed ends, I had never come across anyting like before (or since).
Fish tail ties probably and the insulation possibly Lambs wool
Really enjoyed that. thank you Andy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Andy nice one
Great video Andy,,,like a lot of the comments could listen to you for hour's...remember having to use the plumb Bob level at college but it was tapered...hope your eye's on the mend 🤞....worked on a job a few year's ago nobhead on the job could do anything better than anybody else ..if you've been to tenerife he's been to elevenerife 😂😂have a good 1🍻
We had a guy like that on a small Cambridge based company, he was more qualified than anyone, done everything known to man and been everywhere.
That elevanarife quip was how I was introduced to the knobber 😂
Up the spurs 👍🏻
@@andrewnorris98 🤣🤣🤣coys....levy enic out
Great video Andy. I served my time with my dad and he had every one of those tools you showed us. We are Scottish but he loved those London style brick hammers
A Brilliant upload by Andy so much information on these old bricklaying tools and even the bags they used thanks for sharing it all Andy be good to get more uploads on bricklaying heritage tools and ways of working! Hope your eye heals well and enjoy the sun in Tenerife Andy 🍻
Thanks John 👍
That brought back some memories my dad had both tapes you showed the round one with the red dot in the centre and the setting out tape brown leather casing with a brass wind in handle
The two meter folding rule is still the standard here in Norway, I see the odd retractable, but not many. I was amazed when I first came here as I'd only seen them in the books!
From the early 80s I've always made my own finger trowels by cutting down cheap pointing trowels, handy tool to have in a few different sizes.
Agree with you about the rubber tube, I've done a lot of reclaimed work on barns and extensions and preferred a piece of fan belt, I picked up a big heavy one off a tractor, wore pretty well and of course plenty of spare for new ones.
Have a good weekend and trip to the sunny isle mate, I'm off in a minute to shovel the snow off the house, garage, shed and chicken coop... really looking forward to that, hence draggin' my heels watching you lol!
😁👍
Great video
Really enjoyed that Andy .Still got my original bucket handle i was given as an apprentice also my plumb bob which i used to use building brickwork around existing flat roofs for a builder. Remember the old cawley levels aswell gone now not seen one in years do you still have one be interesting to show off one of them .
Enjoy the sun mate 👍💯🧱🧱
I used to own a Cowley, great bit of kit, you can also do falls with them, they also did the site square. Last time I looked on ebay there were some Cowleys for sale 👍
We did the falls with them in college Andy great surveyors tool .The old bricklayer who tought me on site had one .Then i went over to a dumpy level.I still use a dumpy now .Yea the cowley level a forgotten tool but very useful mate 1990 i last used one of them 👍
The Cowley level was state of the art back in the day, Justin! Getting those segments lined up just right was a proper stress! 😂
@@brickrightbuildinglandscaping I lent mine to someone in the 80s and they dropped it, bought a dumpy after that brilliant kit, Karl Jeiss Jenner with a quick set up system and calibrated base for setting a square.
@Jim_Newlands
Hi Jim
I remember the stress of it not the easiest thing to set up and use it had to be just right didn't it .Dumpy levels easier to use but ive a soft spot for the old cawley 🤣👍🧱🧱
I had a bag like the one Andy showed. A lot of men used to have empty gas mask bags, made of thinner cloth, to bring their snap ( sandwiches ) and a flask which would poke out of the top. Chippy's hessian tool bags were popular for small hand tools. When you lay them down they are open with the tools ready to go, but I never liked them, preferring an open wood tool box with a 2x1 handle running end to end. The reason being in a wood box tools are banged about less, but could be still be carried in one hand, leaving the other to support yourself or open doors etc.
Very good information buddy 👍
It's not who you know it's what you know lol. Such a great video Andy. Top man. Enjoy the sun mate.
Cracking little video Andy
My first job was a chain boy . Working with the site engineers for Higgs & Hill
I remember them 👍
We are probably the only trade that still uses the same tools as centuries ago scaffolder got a drill chippies got all power tools now
Really inturesting andy love your videos mate!! 💯💪👌
👍
Really enjoyed that
Andy the main man ❤
My first job was as a 'chain boy' for the Ordinance Survey' though by that time they had already switch to EDM so all I had to do was hold a pole against a wall (though that wall could be in some interesting places!) Best of luck with the stitches Andy!
👍
Old brickie when i was apprentice late 70s had one of them bags he also had a stabila level just plain aluminium not yellow never seen one since.
You could strip the yellow paint of the stabilas, There was a shop in Perth West Australia that used to refurbish them and there trade mark was to strip the paint of 👍
This was not standard shape though H shaped think one of the bubbles spread wide and he gave it to the other apprentice pity he didn't give it to me.
@@grahamdalzell6933 H shaped, girder was only made up to 3 feet by Stabila if that helps 👍
@@bricklayersworldwithandy6277 maybe I'm mistaken and it wasn't stabila.
@@bricklayersworldwithandy6277 best level ever had a four foot one it was a stabela bought it in 1962 I think they had only just come on the market
Love your channel mate
Glad you enjoy it!
@@bricklayersworldwithandy6277 I remembered a bricklayer I worked with used a bit off sheet metal cut out like a tooth sticking out and he used that to rake out cheers mark
Fantastic Video Andy 👌🏻 let’s hope for that 100+ year old bricklayer to messages you. Enjoy the sun ☀️
🤞
Good video
Thanks
Brilliant video Andy 👍
Very interesting.
Good video andy, ill have to show you the horizontal plumb rule they used to use before spirit levels could be trusted,
There is a short film on you tube
The job of a bricklayer in 1940s britain film 1001751 you may of already seen it if not worth a watch
Yes it was filmed on the Woodberry Down estate Tottenham.👍
It was actually built between 1949 and 1963
I used to repair levels and set bubbles in plaster in early 70's.
yes i have the plumb bob level without the bubbles has brass running down each side of the wood,,, i watched fred dibnah use one to to check the plumb on beaumaris castle he then used an up to date level and it was spot on plumb,
Yes they cant really be wrong.
thats a lovely jacket andy , i love a bit of fred perry
👍😁
Old postie's mail sack was a good tool bag, not like the shit they have today, odd bit of copper pipe for pointing up, did a fair job, your encyclopedic knowledge is unchallenged Andy. 👍
What a top video superb!
Great vid Andy, enjoy your break. The work behind you in Flettons(??) looked spot on mate
Ibstock Tradesman, i did it about 15 years ago
hard to find the old bucket handles now they left a nicer finish and the muck used to stick to em better
Yes can't find them now.
Great video Andy 👍
Great video, thank you
Apparently Lintols were introduced after ww2 because so many bricklayers lost their lives fighting, that hardly any bricklayers were capable of building arches over window/ door openings.
Makes sense 👍
Andy,
I'm a 62yr old carpenter and in my younger days the brickies who used a WHS used to call them Work Hard and Starve
Was that the right saying or is it Work Hard or Starve.....Love your videos mate
Love the pins❤
Would love a pair of them wet mortar pins 👌🏻
Message me your address and ile send you a pair when i get back of hols
.
apalij1@hotmail.com
I got given a pair of very similar pins from an old Cambridge roofer, he couldn't remember where he came about them. Never used them so gave them to me 👍🏻
Couple of add ons a lot of trowels used wide heel trowels better for 9 inch work the ones with the steel end caps yu couldn't hit you level with it like "certain" people do today it would have been like a chewed stick in a week Friday used to be rubbed down with a rag soaked in linseed oil plumb rules used to be made on site using floor board usually about 4/6 inches wide with a pear shaped hole and a pear shaped lead quite heavy 1/1/2 pound to help it settle quickly and a sort of staple made out of a nail at the bottom to stop it swinging about gauge rods and datum pegs wer use a lot more some useto have a brass plate on the bottom to stop them wearing out they cut the marks with a tenon saw narrow kerf ....great video andy now you need to do one on the delights of building partitions and boxing in and cupboards in 2 and 3 inch breeze blocks with floor to ceiling profiles to keep the steady 2 and 3 course at a time 🥺
They were a pain, nicking the roofers batten for props.
Good evening fella. Way to cold to be laying. Luckily iv been on a digger
My tutor at langs bricklayers college was a YID as well, coys 🤣, first ever game I went to was the 1982 F.A CUP FINAL, went to the first game with my "UNCLE" 🤣, WITH A TOTTENHAM HAT AND SCARF, which I still have to this day, after QPR'S late equalizer which made it 1-1, my " UNCLE" 🤣, God rest his soul, took me to the replay in midweek, maybe the Wednesday, don't quote me on it tho, I was only 9 years older! 😂, but he bought me a proper QPR KIT! , HAT SCARF, AND BANNER, PROGRAM, 🤣, AND WE BUNKED IN TROUGH THE TURNSTILES, WELL..... HE TREW EM A FEW QUID, GOOD OLDE DAYS, IF MY MEMORY SERVES ME RIGHT, HODDLE SCORE A PENALTY, ENDED 1-0 SPURS, KICKED OFF IN WEMBLEY BOTH GAMES 👊, I BECAME A MAN EVEN THO I DIDN'T KNOW IT AT THE ⏰!!!, BEST WEEK I EVER HAD, IM A 99,999 % R'S SUPPORTER, AFTER THAT GLORIOUS WEEEK IN MAY I THINK 82! STILL AV A SOFT SPOT FOR THE YID ARMY TO BE HONEST, FCK PALESTINE 🤣, THATS A DIFFERENT STORY, ALL I KNOW IS CURRY IS HOTTER THAN HODDLE 🤣, LOVE YOUR VIDS ANDY, ANY YOUNG ASPIRING BRICKIE WOULD BE HONOURED FOR YOU TO Share YOUR KNOWLEDGE, THEY DON'T MAKE EM LIKE THE USED TO ANDY, THE 🌎 IS FCKED MATE, TAKE CARE
, GOOD LUCK 👍, cum onnn you RRRRRRRRRRR'S, SUPERRRRRRRRR HOOOOOOOPPPPPPSERRRRRRRR 🤣
Thank you my friend, i was not actually at the game i was in Perth West Australia and watched it silly oclock, mad days them with the Falklands war going on 👍
Nice video Andy.
The chain and the furlong.
The furlong is a measurement that goes all the way back to ancient Egypt so I imagine the chain does too.
The ancient city of Jerusalem is mapped out in furlongs.
Here is one to make you think. We know there are 10 chains in a Furlong but how many inches are there?
7920 inches in a Furlong. Almost exactly the diameter of the earth in miles, within six miles to be precise.
Clever them old Egyptians.
Interesting 👍
@@bricklayersworldwithandy6277 Andy, sorry to come back during drinking hours but I have a question that I am struggling to get a clear answer on.
3/4 Brick. Standard size and the max and min. I no longer have my WG Nash books, lent them out bla bla bla.
@@harveysmith100 150mm or 6 inches in old money is bare minimum, no max really.
@@bricklayersworldwithandy6277 Cheers Andy
The house I live in is a real odd ball, built in the early 1920s has a slate dpc built in lime mortar but it has cavity walls. I'm just outside London.
Yes I have come across that type of build, where abouts are you?
Buckinghamshire
Rather find stuff like this interesting to know.
Andy taking in to account bricklayers being expected to lay a thousand a day on rough work and 500 a day on face work in the book you mentioned in the video . In what time frame would you expect apprentices ( who are been intensively trained ) to start achieving the same out put as a qualified tradesmen laying to the line . In the Galbraith book ,taking into account that in his day the whole building would be built with brick and there was a lot of rough work walls to practice on ,he reckoned that it was best to teach the apprentice to lay brick fast first and neatness will come instead of teaching them to lay perfect brick first and expecting speed to come . If ,for talk sake you take a 4 year apprenticeship period and I’m talking just laying to a line ,what would your expectations be of an apprentice that’s applying himself be . If I’m remembering correctly Galbraith expected an apprentice to be able to do the same amount as a qualified man in about 6 months when filling in between corners.
Everyone's different aren't they, some pick it up quickly others never.
I just got some new jointers that are based on bucket handles called bh dingers ain't had a chance to use yet thanks to jack frost
They are good but wear out quick, Al the Trowel on Tic Tock has a vid on how to look after them.
a question for you which i have asked on other channels and no real answers yet, how were the brick tunnels made such as those in dover and across the country in old mines and for that matter the victorian sewers in london. i know to make an arch in a wall we use a former, but the bricks are laid from the outside, how did they get those bricks so straight and true as they wouldnt have been able to brick from the outside and also if a former was used it couldnt have been very wide as surely they would have to fill the voids on the top and sides as they built and would have to be able to reach inside to do so. ive seen [pictures of an old lead mine somewhere in the midlands where they have used blocks of stone to line the tunnel with no mortar , perfectly formed, and even splitting into two tunnels , again perfectly shaped and seemingly tight to the sides and top. there must have been a common way of doing these tunnels all over the country do you think? would they have dug out and bricked at the same time and how did they manage in unstable ground? also i notice in the tunnels at dover parts were bricked and other parts were not, any idea why? the mind boggles at the sheer amount of work and effort to dig out and as for the brickwork, well would anybody be able to do it to day? i doubt it. cheers
All the pictures I've seen it seems they excavated the whole tunnel, built, the brickwork then backfilled it.The arch former was on rails and moved forward once the brickwork had set. One of my first jobs was working in the London sewers drilling holes in the walls and pumping a grout into voids that had formed.I guess these voids were originally created by bad back filling and became worse over time.Nowadays tunneling machines are used with concrete sections.
@@bricklayersworldwithandy6277 thanks for reply, still a bit of a mystery how they squeezed those bricks between tunnel walls and former, and managed to keep it straight and the joints nice and flush, the tunnels in dover are a brickwork master piece, they must have done a small bit at a time i reckon otherwise they wouldnt have been able to reach inside to backfill, maybe im right or maybe not?
@xl5006
It might be worth contacting the I.C.E (The institute of Civil Engineers) They have lots of historical stuff on tunnels, and methods of their construction.
I am almost certain they will be able to answer your question.
@@martin2466 cheers, ill do that, ill let you know on here if i get any information or better still some pictures
@@martin2466 i had a look and it seems that there were 2 gangs of brickies working either side to bring up the side walls using wooden profiles, no former as such, and then it was left to one brickie to finish the top and bring it together. they put small brick piers on the outside at equal spacings to support the walls leaving large voids it would seem. the miners would be digging out and the brickies following behind, working in tamden i suppose, interesting that any clay dug out was reused to make bricks. lot of hard work, especially for the labourers.
Brilliant
A 6inch whs pointing trowel was £2.99 a 10 inch broad heel brick trowel was £6.21 in 1977
Typical old school you threw nearly all of the tools in the bag 😊
I hope that wasn't the final fling of the tools with a fuck IT I'm retiring then went to the pub because the longer you stay in there the better that thought will seem🍺🍺👹
just thought of another jointing tool you will know ,the tyres of an old pram wheel
Yep for flush pointing, you can still get the Silvercross tyres but they are a lot of money.
-3 and rising is the new rule on pgl
My dad had one of them bags that his dad gave him
Good video Andy, when did the sthil saw or its counterparts come into play? And how did we cut more intricate bricks to shape beforehand?
That might make for a good video.
Have fun on your hols.
We only had 9inch grinders, bought my first one early 80s, Sthil saws were were probably about and expensive them days but I was on domestics so no need. I've always associated them with concrete blocks so keep well away 😁. Generally softer bricks were used for carving and hand tools were kept sharp.
We didn’t use a level for plumbing brickwork we had a plumb rule , a pain to use when it was windy,all the bricklayers had them and insisted the apprentices used them , they were made by a carpenter
What years was this ?
Started my apprenticeship 1958 was fifteen all the bricklayers and carpenters had one ,took mine when I did my city and guide the examiner hadn’t seen one in years
@@terryjones6026 👍👍
The old wooden level you had was my first level ,a level and vertical glass bubbles, you only had to knock the level and the bubbles would e out ,the upright one was the worst as you had to get them out from the hole in the side and reset them in plaster of Paris,we were lucky in our town as they used to stock glass bubbles in all sizes,nobody ever believed it when you said I’m going down the shop to get a bubble for my level 😂
@@terryjones6026 Great story Terry 👍