I haven't had that experience with drywall plaster but I certainly have when working with cement.
I don't tend to handle the plaster much until after it has set up because it is too easy to leave fingerprints in it. I do use a series of plaster knives though, starting with a three inch one and working up my largest is about 12 inches although they do make them even wider and If I find one I'll have it. In this way I am getting down to very thin skim coats by the end and I admit that it takes huge self control to keep from touching and exploring the work before it has properly set up. Between each coat I first take a knife and knock off the larger lumps before sanding or sometimes if I have to take off a lot, I'll run a wet sponge over the plaster a couple of times and wait a few minutes then scrape off excess plaster. Again you have to wait until the plaster is pretty dry before you explore it much. It also helps to keep a bucket of warm water and an old towel near by because the mud sticks to the fingers and it all gets hard to work with crusty fingers. What I find difficult is to lay it overhead on the ceiling. What ever I do it seems to roll off the trailing edge of the knife and in stead of sticking to the ceiling as it sticks to the wall it rolls off and sticks to my forehead or forearms or lands on the floor like the deposits of cow sized birds! ----- Original Message ----- From: Tom Vos To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 10:39 PM Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Handy Drywall Tools Seeing Ray's contribution leads me to ask your input on dry walling. Specifically, the last time I did drywall work I had to use my fingers to find the rough spots and ridges in the compound on the wall. But drywall compound has a ph value which makes it very hard on skin. By the time I was finished several of my fingers were bleeding. So I promised myself the next time I would hire someone to do it. How do you folks do it without ending up with the bleeding finger problem? Incidentaly, kneeling on wet concrete for too long can do the same thing to your knees. Blessings, Tom [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
