Tried a 6-inch knife for finishing corners and it backfired hard

I was working on a remodel job over in Springfield last Tuesday where the corners were real tight in a 1920s bathroom. Figured I'd switch to a 6-inch knife for the inside corners instead of my usual 4-inch, thinking I'd get a cleaner line with less passes. Man, I was dead wrong. The bigger knife just couldn't flex right into that old corner bead, and I ended up with mud globs everywhere. Spent an extra hour sanding down ridges I wouldn't have had with the smaller blade. Lesson learned: bigger ain't always better when the studs aren't square. Has anyone else had a tool switch totally ruin their rhythm on a job?

2 comments

2 Comments

gonzalez.vera1mo ago

You said "bigger ain't always better when the studs aren't square" and that pretty much sums up my whole experience with drywall. I gotta ask though, were you using a curved blade or a straight one on that 6-inch? Because I swear a curved 6 can bite into old corners way different than a flat one, but it takes a real light touch. If you were using a straight blade, that might've been half the problem right there.

dakotaknight1mo ago

A curved blade on old corners is asking for trouble if you're not feathering it just right.