My drywall mud recipe finally hit 50 batches and I stopped second guessing

I keep a tally on the shop wall, just a simple tick mark every time I mix a 5 gallon bucket of all purpose mud for a job. Last week I hit 50 batches and that number made me realize something. For the first 20 or so batches I was always adjusting, adding water, adding more mud, worried it was too thick or too thin. Around batch 35 I stopped measuring and just knew by how it felt on the taping knife. Hitting 50 was the moment I finally trusted myself. It sounds dumb but that little wall tally is now my favorite tool. Anyone else have a random number of projects that gave them that confidence boost? What was yours?

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cole_robinson16d ago

Man, that tally on the wall is a smart move. I did the same thing with tile jobs back when I was starting out, kept a notebook of every shower pan I floated, and around number 40 something just clicked where my hands knew the mix before my brain did. The big thing nobody tells you is the mud changes batch to batch depending on how old it is or how it sat in the bucket, so learning by feel instead of by the book is the only way to stay steady. Once you trust your wrist over a measuring cup your speed goes way up too, no more standing there second guessing while the clock runs. Fifty is a solid mark, keep ticking them off.

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