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Talk with a 30 year mason changed how I butter joints
I was laying block on a retaining wall last Tuesday and an old timer named Dave walked by my job site. He watched me for a few minutes then said I was wasting time buttering every head joint separate. He showed me how to load up the trowel with mud for both ends at once and I swear it cut my time by 20 percent on that 40 foot wall. I thought I had my rhythm down after 5 years in the trade but that one tip made me rethink everything. Has anyone else picked up a simple trick from watching an older guy work?
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jennifer8331mo ago
My buddy Mike had been doing drywall for like 8 years and thought he had it all figured out. Then this old timer named Jerry watched him taping corners one day and showed him how to load the knife from the bucket in one smooth motion instead of dipping twice. Mike said he was already doing it wrong for years and the fix took 30 seconds to learn. Jerry also told him to stop wiping his knife clean every pass, just let the mud build up a little and use it to feather the next joint. Saved him maybe 15 minutes per room after that.
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miles_burns1mo ago
Wait, you don't wipe your knife clean every pass for drywall, that's how you get hard lumps in your mud.
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