How to keep from dropping drywall tools?
PenobscotMan
| Posted in General Discussion on
I’ve done quite a bit of DW as a DIYer over the decades, but one problem persists — I keep dropping my tools. Generally I have a trough of mud and a couple of trowels in my hand. I’m on the ladder. I’m using one trowel, the other is in the trough and I’m not paying much attention to it. Bang, splat.
Surely pros have solved this problem. Any hints?
Replies
Hey man.
Easiest way to have two trowels in hand?
fill the long trowel with the six inch in the other hand
Means working out of a bucket, but is easily gotten used to. Don't want to get off the ladder, lay the bucket on something tall enough or stack buckets for the perch. (Not the fish)
I've occasionally hung a bucket off the ladder to put tools in (though I don't do drywall mudding on principle).
1. Learn to work with only one tool at a time.
2. Ladders are way too limiting. Work off of scaffold. Rollaround scaffold can be rented for a very small amount of money and it will increase your productivity (and safety) a great deal.
only mud stays in the trough
Extra knives are generally held outside the mud trough with the same hand that is holding the trough. Most people have 5 fingers. You don't need all five to hold a trough. Trust me, it's not difficult. There are many occasions where I hold 2 extra knives (say 6 & 10" ) in my left hand (along with mud trough) while using a single (say 12") in my right hand . In my opinion, the only thing that stays in the mud trough is, well, mud.
stilts or platform or rolling scaffold, one trowel at a time, do the seams and screws at different times.
losers game trying to do something big from a ladder