Trowel vs jointer for striking joints - which one actually saves time?

Been going back and forth on this for a while now. I always used a jointer for my red brick jobs, but last week on a 2000 brick wall in Denver I tried a trowel the whole way. It was faster to set up but my joints looked uneven in places. Which tool do you guys lean on for production work and why?

2 comments

2 Comments

wilson.kelly1h ago

Honestly I was all about the jointer until I watched a guy on site rip through a whole wall with a trowel and it looked way cleaner than mine, lol. Totally changed my mind, now I just practice the trowel motion more to keep it even.

grace_bailey1h ago

Gotta stop you there though, a trowel isn't really the right tool for cutting through drywall unless you're doing a real rough tear out. A trowel is more for smoothing and spreading mud, not for ripping walls. If you're going for clean cuts, you still want a good sharp utility knife or a drywall saw. If that guy made it look clean with a trowel, he probably just got lucky or has a ton of experience hiding the mess afterwards. Just watch your blades, don't let the trowel trick you into thinking it's the go-to for everything.