My finished product
For those that remember I was building a garden wall, I was working with split faced concrete blocks. First ever attempt. The wall was originally knocked over by a van pretty much completely apart for the left pillar. Luckily all blocks were still intact apart from one coping stone which cracked in two.
So I chipped off the mortar from the now scattered loose blocks, then I dry fitted them the best I could(this is the hardest part)before mortaring to get an idea of the best layout. In hindsight I could have done this better, had a better mix of large and small and followed better course lines.
I then mortered them in which can be a tedious task, having to spend time on each line, fault, crack, opening, edge till it all looked compacted and compacted and smooth.
I leveled off each block and course each time as I was placing it.
The issue are smudging you can see some smudgung here and there, these could be carefully chipped off with a chisel but I didn't bother. The wall feels sturdy and secure and overall I'm quite pleased with it but I can see it could have been done better with more experience.
Fun to try.