How Do You Clean Your Drywall Tools?

Mike Finley

Yeah, we shouldn't really be sh*tting in them either. Sh*t in a pail and burn it, only pee in your toilets, that is after your pee in a hand pump purifier and then pump it into your toilet.

By the way I have a 1 horse power garbage disposal, I can use it as a wood chipper (and do!) You won't believe the stuff I throw in there, I have stopped using a garbage can. My only hope is I am actually contributing to global warming in some small way.

bwalley

Sh!t doesn't sit in the bottom of the drain and harden up and clog up the drain line like drywall mud, thinset and grout does.

MALCO.New.York

When one has put questionables down a drain, the BEST IMMEDIATE resolve is to plug the drain, fill the sink to the BRIM with HOT H2O then pull the drain plug.

MEGA-FLUSH.

Same goes for a Clogged Toilet.

Lift the tank lid, depress the lever half way so you can control the flow.

By the time the H2O rises to near the rim, the weight of the Bowl H2O SHOULD force the obstruction out of the bend and down the pipe!!

This NOT concerning a Toothbrush or the like!!

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

Bodger

"Is there a Captain Willard on board?....GET THAT LIGHT OFF ME!!"

MALCO.New.York

KILGORE
"What we have here... Two of spades, three of spades,
four of diamonds, six of clubs, ace of spades. Isn't one
worth a Jack in the whole bunch..."

LANCE
"Hey Captain, what's that ?"

WILLARD
"Death cards."

LANCE
"What ?"

WILLARD
"Death cards. Let Charlie know who did this."

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

Mike Finley

Thinset and grout are cement based, they totally lose all their hardening properties when diluted with enough water, basically turn to sand. A 5 gallon bucket clean out of all the big stuff into the dumpster then cleaned out by filling with water almost to the top has dilluted the cement portion to the point it has no hardening properties. But what do I know?

Bodger

"Well why didn't you tell me that before, a good peak...there's not a good peak in this whole sh!tty country, it's all gawdamn beach-break!"

The Apocalypse sticky thread has begun...

And Finley's right about the hardening thing, just to stay on topic...

72chevy4x4

I always rough clean one tool with another, toss debris in a trash can. leaves very little remaining material on the tool to clean. Definitely don't clog the sink traps! I keep a small bristled brush for final cleaning (light steel or brass bristles)-espeically good for cleaning hard to clean areas like neck of tool. My biggest hurdle is cleaning the hotmix bucket-if not cleaned soon enough it leaves a real messy mix.

olyteddy

I clean them in a bucket then dump on the grounds. I'd have to clean the clogged drain if I used the sink, and I don't need that kind of job security...

Preacher17

in summer I do the bucket thing too but winter some times i just dry scrape my tools and thats it.... A good finisher can work with anything...

mdshunk

My Dad would quite often just scrape one knife off with another or sand them clean. Both seemed to work well and just as quick, or quicker, than washing them off.

shanekw1

I do the same, scrape them clean at the end of the day, then a quick hit with the sponge sander before I start the next day.

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bwalley

A friend of mne who was probably the best finisher I ever saw used the blue steel knife's and he would wash them thoroughly and wipe them down with WD40 and keep them in canvas tool bag.

He didn't like the stainless knifes, he preffered a well broken blue steel one instead.

He would never use a tool with rough edges on them, we call those floor scrapers.

one thing I noticed about him was he was very meticulous with the way he took care of his tools, and he was also very meticulous with the way he did drywall work.

He started out as a fire taper and soon became a finisher and then he was the lead finisher in the company.

theworx

Scrape and sand! I use all stainless knives. Usually a good scrape and a sand with a sponge is the ticket (helps keep a sharp edge on your knives). Using fast setting mud, it's scrape, sand and a quick wash. Setting mud can leave pits on even stainless knives. Washing them in a sink will cause no problems. As Mike said, it's so diluted with water that there is no problem.

Snobnd

You are deep. Now I have to think when reading your posts...............lol

Willie T

Trust me. Keep away from sinks. In my own house, I had to replace some kitchen piping because of tile grout cleaning. And at a restaurant renovation just last year, the finisher handed me back $90 of his pay to cover the cost of calling a plumber out to run a snake. He actually pulled back out, a ball of semi-hardened drywall mud.

If you have a helper, just high pressure water will keep your knives and pan clean if you hand them to him/her every couple of hours and grab a clean set. Helps keep the accumulated crap off the work, too. Our kid just lays them on the grass (or edge of parking lot) and hits them with a jet of water for a few minutes. (We do not use quick mud though.) The simple trick for us is not to wait till the end of the day (or even till noon) to squirt them off.

__________________
"True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and only that which is."
François Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Bill Everett - St. Petersburg, FL

Brocktologist

B.S.---I've been cleaning out my bazooka and boxes in my basement slop sink for the last ten years with zero problems. I'd never pour hot mudd down it but regular mudd goes down several times a week. If there was a problem with doing so I'd think I would have seen it by now.

BKFranks

Bucket of water and a sponge.

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Rx8

only a dirtbag drywaller would even consider being as unprofessional as to use the customers sick to clean their tools lol. personally ide fire anyone who would even think about justifying their actions with "everyone else does it" or "its how ive always done it" haha.

vwovw

garbage disposal side of sink FTW works great.