That old school hand taping trick I swore by till I tried a banjo

Been doing drywall for 20 years and always used a hand trowel for taping corners, you know, the old way. Last week on a job up in Tacoma I borrowed a guy's banjo (the taping tool, not the instrument) and honestly it cut my time on a 12x14 room by almost 45 minutes. The learning curve was real though - had to go back and resand three seams cause I laid the mud on too thick at first. Has anyone else had that issue where the banjo just feeds way faster than your hands can keep up with?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_diana3d ago

Ditch the banjo and go back to hand taping, it's more consistent.

reeseanderson4d ago

Oh man, hold up a second. You've got the timeline backwards on the banjo. That thing actually came AFTER the hand taping method, not before. Hand taping is the old school way, but the banjo is the newer invention from the 50s or 60s. It's not that the banjo feeds too fast, it's that you gotta feather the trigger just right. I had the same issue my first time where I'd squeeze too hard and get a fat glob. Try backing off the pressure on the trigger and let the tool do more of the work.