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Just used a 4 inch taping knife for my whole basement job
I was at a job in Maplewood last week and this old timer I was working with insisted I use nothing but a 4 inch knife for the entire basement. Honestly it felt weird at first but by the time I finished the third coat I was flying through corners and butt joints way faster than switching to my 10 inch for flats. Has anyone else tried sticking to one size for a whole room like that?
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dylan_bell22d ago
Jenny's right about the consistency thing... I read somewhere that pro finishers in the 70s and 80s would only use a 4 inch knife for everything because they said it kept the mud tighter and stopped you from overworking the flat areas. I tried it once on a small bedroom and the finish was actually smoother on the butt joints since you're not dragging so much mud around. The only thing that got me was doing the long flat seams with a 4 inch took forever... but the control was nice for not pulling up the edges.
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Did you feel like you had more control with the smaller knife on the corners and butt joints? I did a similar thing in my own basement last year and found that sticking with a 6 inch for everything really helped my consistency. It takes some getting used to but the results can be pretty solid.
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