I concur. I am not a pro, either but have done an **** load of finishing recently.
Get yourself a decent, steel corner knife and go for doing both sides of the corner at one time - just cover the tape with mud on the first pass, then build/sand to your liking with additional coats to fill/sculpt as needed. Use long, smooth strokes as a final pass bfore moving to the next seam. Load the knife so you have adequate corner filling. Alter the pitch of the knife relative to the wall to accomodate the feathering needs - holding it up in the back will leave less filler while holding it more flat will leave more filler in the corner and the sides. I treat it like I do painting - get the **** in plce regardless of appearance first, then smooth it all out before moving on. If you try to keep everything smooth every step of the way - you are killing yourself. Concern yourself with high spots - don't sweat the low spots - it is far easier to fill on the second coat than it is to have to sand everything each time.
On outside corners - ignore the peak. Just spread each side to the corner bead and feather it out evenly. As before - get the mud on the wall roughly where it needs to be, then use long smooth strokes to smooth it and knock down any high spot. I can usually get an outside corner in two passes. Inside corners are usually three passes, but sometimes two.
For three-way corners (like where the cieling meets the wall corners) I suggest doing on corner at a time. I do the cieling seams first, then do the wall seams.
Sprinkle some water in your mud before closing it up and seal it tightly. Clean any stry mud from inside the bucket as it happens to keep from getting clumps at the worst possible moment.
Scott
