Control Your Drywall Knife With Fingers on the Blade, Not the Handle

The Problem

Most beginners hold a taping knife the way they'd hold a hammer — a full fist around the handle, blade locked at one angle from the top of the stroke to the bottom. Held that way, the knife is hard to steer. Pressure lands wherever your wrist happens to be, the blade digs in at the start of the pass, and the coat comes off ridged instead of feathered flat. Then you sand off everything you left behind.

The Technique

The control is in where your fingers sit and how the blade angle changes through the stroke.

1. Choke down on the knife. Slide your fingers off the grip so your fingertips press on the back of the blade itself, near where it meets the handle. The handle balances against your palm; your fingertips steer and load the blade. You can't get that feel with a fist on the handle.
2. Start each stroke with the knife open — blade tilted well away from the wall.
3. As you pull, flatten the blade toward the wall. Match the angle to what's under it: while there's a good bed of compound, stay open; as you feel the compound thin out, flatten the knife to lay it down smooth.
4. Ease off near the end of the stroke. Once the mud has spread thin, glide rather than press — forcing a nearly-dry blade gouges the coat you already laid.

Then reload, start again from the top, and repeat the same open-to-flat motion: open, close, open, close.