The bricklayers trowel varies in size from about 10 to 14 inches and differs from the pointing trowels (see pointing) which have two straight sides, in having one side slightly rounded. This is known as the cutting edge and is used for rough cutting and trimming.
Glossary
Bat or closer - a part of a brick, usually no more than half size, used to finish a course.
Brindles - bricks which have been unequally fired.
Cloister bricks - a term sometimes used to describe oversized bricks.
Clot - the measure of clay which is forced into a stock mould.
Common brick - poorer quality brick used where structure and appearance is not
important.
Compass bricks - bricks which taper in thickness and/or width.
Diaper brickwork - a diamond pattern, achieved by using bricks of different colours.
English bond - a bond consisting of alternate courses of headers and stretchers.
Engineering brick - a dense, robust brick, suitable for use in heavy duty structures, ie
viaducts.
Facing brick - a brick whose colour and durability is suitable for the exposed face of a
wall.
Firing - the process of changing dried mud into an approximation of stone by heating to
extreme temperatures in a kiln.
Flemish bond - a bond where the courses consist of alternate headers and stretchers.
Frog - the indentation in the face of a brick, which makes it both easy to handle and bed
into mortar.
Gauged brickwork - very precisely made bricks laid with fine joints.
Green bricks - are newly cast, wet but firm bricks, which are put into a drying shed or hack to harden up
before being transferred to the kiln.
Header - a brick laid so that only its end appears on the face of the wall.
Header bond - a bond composed entirely of headers. (Usually a sign of a solid wall)
Honeycomb brickwork - a wall in which bricks are deliberately spaced to allow for
ventilation or to achieve a visual effect.
Kiss marks - a darker spot on the brick caused by touching in the kiln.
Paviors - specially hard bricks used for surfacing work on pavements, roads etc.
Place bricks - poorer quality bricks, often underfired, used on the inner face of a wall.
Racking back - the practice of building up the ends of brick walls to a height of several
courses above the last complete course, which provides a very good guide to filling in the
courses between.
Rat trap - a construction of headers and stretchers in which the bricks used are laid on
edge, as a result a cavity is formed - the rat trap.
Rubbers - large bricks which are then rubbed to size, giving a very precise, smooth
finish.
Scottish bond - one row headers to five of stretchers.
Soldier course - a course of bricks laid with the long sides upright.
Specials - bricks which have to be specially made for a specific purpose such as a
particular shape of cope.
Stock brick - a brick, hand made, using a stock mould. Later came to mean a large
number (stock) of bricks all manufactured in the one locality, ie London stock brick.
Stretcher - a brick laid with its long side to the face of the wall.
Tumbled brickwork or, brick tumbling - occurs on gables where bricks are laid
diagonally to form a series of triangles which provide a flat bed for skews.
Wild bond - a term used to describe very random mixtures of headers and stretchers.