232
Oh corner trowel, where have you been all my life? (thelemmy.club)
submitted 1 day ago by Iconoclast@feddit.uk to c/dull_mens_club@lemmy.world
32 comments fedilink hide all child comments

By far the most frustrating thing about plastering jobs is the drying times. This is especially true with inside corners - with a knife you pretty much can't do both sides the same day because you'll always end up messing up the opposite one.

I finally gave one of those corner tools a try, and the result is fucking mint. The customer is going to be so happy with these flawless corners tucked behind the curtains in their living room.

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[-] prettybunnys@piefed.social 20 points 1 day ago

Whoever paints that corner is gonna be like “woah. this corner is fresh af” before gooping way too much paint on it and making a little egg drop down it

[-] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 9 points 1 day ago

That whoever is going to be me

[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Look how they massacred my boy!

[-] skip0110@lemmy.zip 21 points 1 day ago

I can do all sorts of DIY things around the house.

Drywall/plaster, I am terrible at. Much respect for those skilled in the trade. Their work on a ladder above their head beats what I can do at eye level over 2 days.

(The other thing I don’t touch is plumbing. Jeez, that water really wants to be outside of the pipes. Unlike drywall, the impact of bad plumbing is much more than an eyesore.)

[-] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 18 points 1 day ago

It is actually just as hard as it looks. Not only the act of plastering itself, but knowing which products to choose and how to use them correctly. It seems simple on the surface, but it's an art in itself.

[-] itsathursday@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

It seems simple on the surface

I see what you did there

[-] ladicius@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Yep. Have a lot of respect for people who know the right materials.

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

As another DIYer for mudding and taping, what I've learned is that less is more. Better to do 5 wafer-thin passes with virtually no sanding than 2 passes and sand like a sumbitch because it's full of bubbles.

[-] skip0110@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

This is a good tip, thanks. I have been approaching it with a "I'll build up a ton, then sand it back to what I need" which is probably one of the many ways I mess it up :)

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

That's how I started out, too. Not only does it take forever to dry, it'll crack and slump. And then, of course, there's the interminable sanding.

You can also play with the later coats, going with a thinner consistency so it fills the little holes better and you're scraping most of it off. Watch a few youtube channels of pros, it's time well spent to save time later.

[-] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Same. Drywallers and plumbers are Gods in my book.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 1 points 23 hours ago

Plumbing is way, way easier than drywall (in fact I would go so far as to call the supply side of it "easy," including soldering copper pipes); it's just that the penalty for failure is so much higher.

[-] tiny_hedgehog@piefed.social 10 points 1 day ago

Probably sitting in a corner somewhere.

[-] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago

Keeping someone warm, because they are always 90 degrees.

[-] tiny_hedgehog@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago

I think that’s the right angle to look at it.

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 1 day ago

How well is it gonna work if the corner isn't a precise 90 degree angle? I didn't even realize how imprecise corners were until I got a corner desk and it didn't sit flush in any corner of my house.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I got a corner trowel and didn't care for it. It's hard enough to do one side evenly, and even harder to do two at once. Plus I just ended up with lines at the tool edges.

I'm just an unpaid DIYer, though, so I can more afford to be patient about drying times.

(BTW, since we're talking about drywall: I found "Vancouver Carpenter" on YouTube to be super helpful in teaching good technique.)

[-] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 2 points 1 day ago

Not all imperfections are created equal. I don't worry about ridges because those sand away with few passes. It's the parts with too little mud that I need to re-fill that I try to avoid.

[-] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

that, as they say, is a skill issue

unless your wall is wavy as shit, it should be pretty easy to find the right angle as a little bit of practice

also you have the feather the edges in after still, just like you would with a single edge tool. it's not gonna get rid of that unless you're really good

[-] grue@lemmy.world 1 points 23 hours ago

also you have the feather the edges in after still, just like you would with a single edge tool. it’s not gonna get rid of that unless you’re really good

See, that's the part I was expecting the corner tool to make easier. If I've got to feather the edge with a normal knife anyway, I might as well just use the normal one for the whole thing.

[-] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 1 points 17 hours ago

but then you have a sharp internal corner

if that works for you, then yeah no point using this

[-] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

There's also the fact that the tool is 90 degrees but corners rarely are.

[-] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 1 points 17 hours ago

that's what changing the angle compensates for

[-] usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago

I'm a big fan of the corner trowel, but you'll still need to bust out the putty knife at the ceiling where the three inside corners meet. It takes some practice and finesse, but you can get it nice without needing to wait for any of them to dry. Having a knife that's deliberately a tiny bit dished so the corners don't dig in helps (and is super handy in other places too)

[-] infinitevalence@discuss.online 5 points 1 day ago

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sure-Corner-2-in-x-100-ft-Solid-Joint-Tape/4763887

Also, use this stuff for corners, its a game changer IMO

[-] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago

Thanks for the tip - I might give it a try. They seem to be selling a similar product in the local harware store. I use steel corner beads on outside corners but with inside corners I've just prefilled and then taped with paper tape just like all other joints.

[-] humble_boatsman@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Yeah its a nice product and the difference is the metal inside corners keep nice and straight if you dont overload with mud. Just dont buy from Lowes! Fuck box stores and their flock camera corporate operations

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

This stuff right here. Game changer is not exaggerating at all.

[-] humble_boatsman@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Fuck Lowes

[-] infinitevalence@discuss.online 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

sure, idc where you get it from, it was just easy to find and share a lowes link.

[-] humble_boatsman@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Srry for cussing. Its personal with Lowes. Just add a disclaimer.

[-] itsathursday@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I recently had the pleasure of realising how tricky corners were myself and was unsure if this would be a gimmick or game changer. If I ever get held at gunpoint and need to do this again I will grab one of these.

this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2026
232 points (99.6% liked)

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