# hot mud and tools



## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

How quickly do you clean knives after using hot mud? Hard to clean?


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## Frankawitz (Jun 17, 2006)

I clean my tools once I'm done using them, some times they don't get cleaned intil I use them but that's no more then a few days, I use a 4" razor blade to clean with.


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## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

The reaason I ask is there have been times when I wished I could have finished something in a day. I hate to have some kind of patch work take more than a day waiting on the mud to dry. BUt, I thought I had read sosmewhere about the tools being really hard to clean when using hot mud.


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## Norrrrrrrrrrrrm (Jan 20, 2007)

If the has dried, I usually soak the knives in a mudpan or a bucket with warm water. I will do something else, then come back and clean them off. I only do this to SS knives. The ones you get at homeless depot willl rust.:furious:


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## Ohio Drywall (Aug 13, 2006)

Ah,cleaning them when your done helps alot buddy.Have you never use easy sand Durobond?


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

Why wouldn't you clean, service and maintain any tool as soon as you are done with it? It only takes about 30 seconds to clean a drywall knife when you are done with it and hours if you count the soaking and fussing if you let them harden. We always work with a bucket of water and a big sponge so all you do is scrape the knives off on the pan and then wipe them off with the sponge. We only use SS knives, clean them and you're done, no fussing with keeping them dry or (removing rust before use! ) 

My personal motto is productivity gains on a job site are rarely accomplished in giant blocks of time, they are gained in 60 second increments that add up over a 10 hr day.


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## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

I do use a five gal bucket to put my knives in temp. But, I have never used hot mud. Someone said something about throwing a bag in a pool, I think, and it would harden. I am not a mud man per se. I have done quite a bit but never with hot mud. I didn't want to try it and have a rock form on the tools between coatings.



> Ah,cleaning them when your done helps alot buddy


Recntly went to a job where some mudding was required. When I brought my 10 out, a guy says,"thats new, aint it?". I have had that knive at least two years. So yeah, I believe in keeping them very clean.

If any of my attempts at info comes across as really stupid, feel free to ignore. Its been said the only dumb guestion is a guestion not asked. Maybe so, maybe not. Some cases, trial and error may be more in line.


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## sidejobs (Mar 24, 2006)

Hot mud is good if used in the right setting. A lot of the jobs I do require me to tape and mud dry (no access to water). With the use of premixed mud you just have to scrap and sand tools and your done cleaning. If you need to stir the mud just take your stir stick home and clean it there and bring back the next day. If I was to use hot mix I would need lots of empty buckets to keep working, and then by the time I would get around water to clean the buckets they would be rock hard. Does anyone else work dry?


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## theworx (Dec 20, 2005)

Always clean your knives right after you're done using them. People have different methods for cleaning them but keeping them clean is important. I have found that setting mud if left on your knives tend to make little pits. I have all stainless steel blades and it still leaves marks and pits in my knives... Like Mike said, for the 30 seconds it takes, clean your tools...

I'm quite pissed that I had to go out and buy new taping tools a few weeks ago... Left mine over night on a job site and figure the cleaners took them. I've had those knives for 20 years, were perfectly worked in (proper bend, sanded smooth, corners rounded perfect, and worked perfectly)... Now I have to break in a new set of knives (could take a year or two before they perform like my last ones)!!! Might sound silly to some rookies, but yes, you have to break in drywall knives (hone and sand them sharp, create the proper bend in them, round the sharp corners just right so you don't scratch the paper, etc...) Part of the art of being a good hand taper is the tools you use... Respect them!!!


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 12, 2004)

Clean everything when the mud starts to stiffen...PRONTO.

I can feel for you worx, it's really hard to replace some tools that are 'broken in'.

You can also 'break in' new tools with sanders and polishers, I do it a few times a year.


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## Forry (Feb 12, 2007)

We scrub and rinse our knives after each use, and between buckets of hot mud... I don't clean my handles like some folks do, I kinda like'em dirty, but yeah, it's not hard to clean if you hit it right away. Sometimes if it's late, or water is hard to get to, I don't mind just scraping all the mud off I can and hitting the blades with a sanding sponge next time, but the cheaper blades get pits that leave scratches in the mud.. no good..:no:


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## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

Are we all talking hot mud here as I originally asked about? I know how to handle premix.


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## Danahy (Oct 17, 2006)

What is hot mud, and what's a SS knife?


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## theworx (Dec 20, 2005)

Teetorbilt said:


> Clean everything when the mud starts to stiffen...PRONTO.
> 
> I can feel for you worx, it's really hard to replace some tools that are 'broken in'.
> 
> You can also 'break in' new tools with sanders and polishers, I do it a few times a year.


Thanx Teetor, had most of those knives for many years... Like you say, now have to polish and hone my new knives to perform well... Just sucks, I was so used to them and how to handle them to do a good job!!! Oh well, have to learn that even in a locked office (where you feel your tools will be safe) you should take extra measures like locked and chained up tool boxes... My fault for trusting people!!!


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## andybuildz (Jan 19, 2007)

theworx said:


> I've had those knives for 20 years, were perfectly worked in (proper bend, sanded smooth, corners rounded perfect, and worked perfectly)... Now I have to break in a new set of knives (could take a year or two before they perform like my last ones)!!! Might sound silly to some rookies, but yes, you have to break in drywall knives (hone and sand them sharp, create the proper bend in them, round the sharp corners just right so you don't scratch the paper, etc...) Part of the art of being a good hand taper is the tools you use... Respect them!!!


Amen brotha...I've said the exact same thing. It freaks me out to see someone pick up one of my broken_in_knives to use them. No way!!
The last helper I had I saw pick one of my bigger ones up to scrape the FLOOR!! I almost killed him on the spot. You just breath on those edges and it'll nick. Sharper than a razor blade!!!
I'll tell my guys when they go to clean off hard mud on corner beads to use the sides of the knife, never the used edge other wise that'll put a nice flaw in that as well when they're broken it.


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## Greg Di (Mar 12, 2005)

Danahy said:


> What is hot mud, and what's a SS knife?


Hot mud = setting compound (ie EasySand 45)
SS knife = stainless steel knife


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## Danahy (Oct 17, 2006)

Greg Di said:


> Hot mud = setting compound (ie EasySand 45)
> SS knife = stainless steel knife


tks Greg.

Of course! "stainless steel"... I feel really stupid now...

As for the hot mud, in a nutshell, is it any compound that you have to add water too, and not premixed?... Like Durabond, or Sheetrock 45 and such...?


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## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

Sorry Danehey, didn't think you were serious. Thought were being...what's that $2 word? facetious? Not familiar with hotmud myself. Trying to learn.


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## Danahy (Oct 17, 2006)

boman47k said:


> Sorry Danehey, didn't think you were serious. Thought were being...what's that $2 word? facetious? Not familiar with hotmud myself. Trying to learn.


:thumbsup: no worries.

One of the things I find wierd is the terms i use and hear in Canada, are sometimes referred to something else on here, and in the US. Eventually someone makes sense of it for me. Like the term hotmud... I asked a drywaller today if he ever uses hotmud... He looked at me sideways, which makes me think he probably does, but just doesn't call it hotmud...


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

Danahy said:


> tks Greg.
> 
> Of course! "stainless steel"... I feel really stupid now...
> 
> As for the hot mud, in a nutshell, is it any compound that you have to add water too, and not premixed?... Like Durabond, or Sheetrock 45 and such...?


No, there are setting compounds and drying compounds. 'Hot' mud because they set off quick, as in hot. Setting compounds dry chemically, drying compounds dry by evaporation. Setting compounds are quick to set and allow you to recoat very quickly. It is very possible to do a complete patch from start to finish including texture matching and paint within 1 hr using setting compounds.


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