by Lons » 09 Jul 2021, 09:50
There's nothing wrong with your brickwork Mark, it can be difficult to match in with old bricks but that looks good to me.
I you don't mind me offering advice for the next project which I expect will be a full size building now you've got the hang of it.
The mortar should be on the wet side rather than dry, the consistency of stiff whipped cream works well, if too dry the bricks suck the moisture out quickly and they become difficult to work. Mix by measured volume not shovels e.g. buckets even if using a mixer.
Lay a bed of mortar maybe enough for half a dozen bricks troweling down the middle, lay the first then butter the end of the next brick before you lay it just a couple of taps with the edge of your trowel to position it then move on to the next, remove excess mortar as you go with a cutting action not scraping and you'll keep the brick faces clean, that way the joints are filled and minimal work to finish them later with a pointing trowel or jointer. Level them properly with a straight edge and level along several rather than individual bricks.
If building more than a few courses high then build up your corners first using a level and home made gauge if necessary but usually by eye is fine then use a brick line along each course to build the infill wall, it's fast, very accurate and you won't need your level at all.
One last thing, once a brick is in position and correct leave it alone, don't touch it again even if not quite right as you'll lose the bond, at worst you'll have a brick that could come loose, at best there will be a crack and you'll get water through then frost, same result, better to take it off and do it again,
I'm not a brickie btw but was "trained" by my brother who served his time before teaching construction and eventually gaining a doctorate, he worked for me every holiday which lecturers get loads of and I've laid thousands of bricks and M2 of stone.
I have a degree in faffing about (It must be true, my wife says so)