PSA: That 6-inch taping knife is not a putty knife, stop using it for spackle

Last summer I walked into a buddy's garage reno in Denver and watched him scrape a window frame with a brand new 6-inch drywall knife. He gouged the wood in three spots and blamed the tool. I've made the same mistake myself back in 2015 when I tried to pry off old caulk with a 4-inch taping blade and bent the edge for good. These knives are made for spreading joint compound in wide smooth strokes, not digging into corners or scraping paint. Once you flex the edge even a little, your feathering will show lines on every seam after that. Anyone else wrecked a good blade this way or found a cheap fix to true it back up?

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leo_carr1316d ago

Been there, done that, and yeah it stinks. Bought a nice stainless 6 inch a few years back and used it to pop off some old baseboard, thinking it would be fine. Edge curled on the first piece and after that every seam I did had a little ridge running down it. Tried to fix it on a diamond stone but once that thin steel folds, it never lays flat again. Best thing you can do is keep a beater knife around for the ugly stuff and save the good one for mud only. Cheap fix is just buying a new one, sad but true.

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