Before caulking in a corner, I cut the end of the nozzle at a 45° angle, then draw a solid line with a felt-tip pen on top of the 45°cut along the length of the nozzle. I also draw a dotted line on the bottom of the 45° cut. In this way, I always know where the 45° angle is even when the nozzle gums up.
Alex Oppedijk, Forest Knolls, CA
Edited and Illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #205
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Nice tip.
I've gotten in the habit of carrying a Sharpie, just like the former guy and I mark things to relieve the strain on my memory. All my credit cards look alike, so I label them in big black letters. One of the locks on my truck turned the opposite way from all the others, so I put a little counter-clockwise arrow on it (which wore off, but I'd memorized it by then.)
I put an index mark on the knob of my foam gun so I can reproduce bead size without trial and error. I don't use my slap stapler a lot, so I can never remember the staple size. Now it has T50 scratched on the side.