I sure like the rubber knockdown knife. Works for me. Used to use the metal blades. More chance of error.

 

How about acrylic.:drink:

 

36"

 

I've tried one. Didn't especially like it.

 

acrylic is all i use :thumbsup:

 

24'' or 36'' is what i use

 

Yep 24" acrylic is where it is.

Cole

 

OK, you talked me into using the acrylic again. Only tried it a couple times. Might have to drag it out again. I just might like it this time.

 

The giant acrylic pan cake flipper is the way to go. Once you go acrylic you'll never go back, jack.

 

I am surprised you prefer acrylic over rubber. Why do you?
Do you let the mud set a little longer with the acrylic?

 

I have posted this several times I add sand to my knock down mix. So you don't have to wait. The knife rides on the sand with light pressure.

Cole

 

Never done this, but often wondered...can you roll out knock down mixture or does it have to be sprayed on ??

There is not a big call for knock down method in my area, but I personally like the look...I am thinking about doing it in my own home first :notworthy

Ive only seen it once in a residental home here in Maine, but there are more and more out of stater's moving here, so it might be a new fad soon.

 

Thanks Mike...I was aware of the bags of texture and I do have a hopper to spray, my question is if you can roll it on with a 3/4 nap roller and then knock it down??

Hoppers make an awfull mess in remodeling situations, so if I could cut out the spraying to roll it, it would be a great help when working with fussy customers.

Thanks Mike :notworthy

 

I'm not sure how you could roll on knock down. Texturing either orange peal or knock down is a part of almost every job we do, we have a special sponge that is pretty crazy looking to do small patches, but it takes a lot of work to make it work right, we also have a hand pump gun that costs about $200.00 that is really good for doing patches. But other than those, I think nothing is going to work besides a hopper gun. But maybe somebody else can chime in.

 

Doc, you can roll a texture and then ....''knock it down''.... But I don't think it is the knock down we are talking about.

 

Thanks Big Shoe

 

Here's what our knockdown looks like.

 

Yep that is pretty close to mine as well.

Cole

 

Here's what out knock down looks like :

 

Gotta love that video! That'll teach the guy to kiss the other guy. :no:

 

I purchase door sweep, which is rubber and has a glue tab on one side. I cut it to fit my knives and press it on. It can then be used to fit all sizes of knives and works great.

 

So why don't you buy the knife made for knockdown? :blink:

 

So why don't you buy the knife made for knockdown? :blink:

This is the question I ask over and over again in this business. There is an amazing amount of improvisation that goes on all the time.

The last new guy we hired was quite an accomplished all around carpenter. He's always used mud out of the bucket to do texture. He spent 20 minutes talking to me about how much better it is, how we could do it (we use actual texture mix in powder form). After 20 minutes I told him, I'm not opposed to changing anything we do. All I ask is for you to first try the way we work, do it enough so that you can then judge which way is better. He resisted for a few times and then about a month later is a total convert to powdered texture mix now.

Same guy found him using a 12 inch knife to do knock down, showed him the acrylic knock down knife, he resisted.. .same conversation... same result... totally loves it...

Whatever it is, guys in these trades make things so much harder on themselves for whatever reason. Mixing drywall mud with soap, pissing in it, mixing Coca Cola... they have all these wives tales they follow, meanwhile the manufacturers spend millions of dollars and thousands of hours testing and producing product for an exact purpose and guys in our trades think that by adding some setting compound to all purpose they are making the perfect mud. :whistling

 

Yep Mike, you hit the nail on the head. Well written. Never have figured that thinking out. I have one guy working for me that has finally given up on making me think like that, I buy the tool to do the job. And the material designed to do the job. How easy is that? :blink:

 

AAAHHH...Its nice to see that people with actual experience are willing to share their trade with others. We all have are own techniques that work for us, we learn from everyone...even the one's that cut corners.

I agree that practice makes perfect...when I first started taping, I used a simple pan knife for every coat...soon I learned that a beveled trowel would speed up the process, then that a straight masons trowel on last coat was a wonderful thing...knife pressure on either side to feather out coats etc...

Little tips along the way are what makes us proficient at what we do...Patients, practice and first hand knowledge is what makes us perfectionists at our trades.

Thanks for the Knock down info guy's, you have been a real help to a rookie in this area...I hope to master it and serve my customers well :thumbsup: