Wm. Johnson Inc. Newark, NJ USA tuck pointing tool?

[oldgoaly]

All the tuck pointing tools I have used have a convex face for forming a concave mortar joint. This one is flat any ideas on what it is for? From the 1940's?

[wvtools]

My 1959 Johnson catalog shows your tool as the No. 201 Handled Jointer or Tuck Pointer.  They came in blade thicknesses of 1/4, 5/16, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, or 3/4 inch.  They could be furnished with concave, convex, or flat blades.

[oldgoaly]

Thanks! another nugget of knowledge!

[Aunt Phil]

In the mason trade it's called a schlick.

In the sane world it's called a tool you don't want to be using for more than 10 minutes.

That tool isn't for shaping the face of a joint, it's for shoving mortar into the joint.  A decent mason will use it to work mortar in from the backside of his trowl.  An apprentice mason will learn a lot about working mortar with that tool.  A master mason will work it from a plasterer's mortar board and really embarras the masons and apprentices.

[Billman49]

Most brick layers finish the joint with the edge of their trowel - many different types of joint can be found, some with good resistance to rain, and some more decorative, but with less resistance to the ingress of water, and better suited to inside work....

Jointing tools are often used for repair work, i.e. refilling old joints, or top quality work, where a team of brickies may be build the wall, but leave the joints struck back, so that one can fill all the joints to the same standard, or with a different colour facing mortar.

In the UK, the tool of choice use to be a piece of broken galvanised steel from a bucket handle....

[Billman49]

not being a very good brickie, I tend to use a small pointing trowel to finish joints on brickwork, and a very worn one with a rounded nose for stonework (followed by a stiff bristled brush several hours later)...

[oldgoaly]

that is the finish that I've seen is the concave, my grandpa was a bricklayer, I was always his favorite grandkid cause I was tuck pointing the low rows when I was still in diapers. Can't reach the low rows now probably will be in diapers again in the future.
Thanks for all the info!

[OilyRascal]

I have seen adjustable wrenches leveraged as hammers, and that doesn't say much for their intended purpose.

From my experience Billman's response is "spot on". 

Quote:  "Jointing tools are often used for repair work, i.e. refilling old joints, or top quality work, where a team of brickies may be build the wall, but leave the joints struck back, so that one can fill all the joints to the same standard, or with a different colour facing mortar."

[Billman49]

Not a common tool, the one below has a link with the subject of this message - just adding it to see if it is known in the USA.....

If you want a shortcut to the answer, see: http://www.forum-outils-anciens.com/t1127-Bourre-Mortier.htm?q=ma%C3%A7on