That school demo day in Akron flipped my trowel grip for good

I was doing a little demo for a high school trades class last spring, showing how to lay a quick garden wall. About halfway through, one of the kids asked why I hold the trowel so tight, and I realized I'd been gripping it like a hammer for 15 years. That night I looked up some old union videos, and tried the loose finger hold with the handle resting more in the palm. It felt totally wrong for the first week, my wrist ached and I dropped two bricks. But after about 30 days, I noticed my lines were straighter and I wasn't fighting the mortar as much. Now I'm wondering if I should have learned it that way from day one, or if the hard grip actually helped my accuracy early on. Anyone else switch their grip late in the game and see a real difference, or is this just a style thing?

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diana_bell7418d agoTop Commenter

Switched my grip on clippers after a decade of white-knuckling it, same wrist pain and all. Took a solid month to feel right, but once it clicked, my hand stopped cramping by the end of the day and my cuts got cleaner.