Pointing trowel handle gave out on a 12 foot wall, took 4 hours to redo

I was halfway up a garden wall in Portland last Tuesday when the wooden handle on my old pointing trowel snapped clean off. The blade stayed in the mortar joint but I had to drop everything and drive 40 minutes to the nearest supplier that carried a replacement. By the time I got back, the mortar had set enough that I had to rake out three courses and start over. What should have been a 2 hour job turned into a 6 hour day, and my wrist still aches. Has anyone tried those rubber overmold handles, or am I better off sticking with wood and just carrying a spare?

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jamie_clark1mo ago

Switch to rubber overmold and never look back. I made the switch two years ago after snapping a wood handle on a scaffold and it saved my wrist and my schedule. The rubber grips way better when your hands are sweaty or covered in mortar dust. Wood looks nice but it dries out, cracks, and fails at the worst time, usually mid job. Keep one wood trowel if you love the feel, but carry a rubber one as your main and a spare in the truck. That 40 minute drive and 4 hours of rework costs way more than a second trowel ever will.

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