Tuck pointing on bricks with ridges

Hello,

So much of the old mortar on my brick home needs to be re-pointed. I've tried doing it myself, but because the bricks all have vertical ridges (I think these are called "common bricks"), some mortar gets caught in the ridges, leaving a grey, sloppy looking finish. I would like to keep mortar off of the brick face, leaving a clean finish, like the original work. Anyone have any techniques I could use to keep mortar out of the ridges? Any special mortar I should be using?

I tried a cake frosting type bag also that someone had given me, but I couldn't even get the mortar to come out of the bag. Perhaps the wrong mortar or wrong bag.

Thanks!
-Greg

 

you mix'd the mortar incorrectly - more cement next time,,, grout bag mortar needs to be more soupy,,, a picture would have been nice but, failing that, mortarboard, pointing tool, & steady hand should do the trick

 

May be referring to wire cut brick, and your right it's the hardest one's to clean up after.
Wire Cut Brick Textures - Bing Images
Are you also removing about 1/2" of the old mortar so the new has a place to hold onto?

 

Applying a layer of heavy book binder's tape to the dry brick faces would work to keep most of the mortar off of them. It also helps if you apply the mortar directly from a hawk, held tightly against the lower front corner of each course being mortared. Don't try to squeeze in more mortar than the joints can hold, either, as that defeats the purpose. Using a raking tool for pushing the mortar off the hawk works best for me.

 

bdge, what's a ' raking tool ',,, know pointers but never heard the ' raking tool ' term used for taking mortar from the hawk previously.

to the op, when your mortar's mix'd correctly, it will hang on your pointing tool when you hold the tool upside down

 

It's a long, flat, narrow steel trowel, with a slight convex curve and a handle. Used by masons to smooth mortar joints after the little adjustable roller-skate thing has been dragged over flush mortar to remove the top 1/4" or so of it. Professionals like you probably have an "official" name for it, but I've called both of mine raking tools for more than 40 years (had to make a short one for shorter vertical joints). Remember, I'm just an amateur.