Watch some YouTube’s (Drywall with Kenny) and learned difference between green and blue buckets. But I’m still all ears open for suggestions
Thanks to all for suggestions
Green bucket or all purpose is for taping and first coat. It has some kind of glue or adhesive in it to help with the taping. The blue lid or topping compound is for your next coats. It goes on smoother(when you thin it with water like Cam had mentioned) and it doesn't shrink as much and is easier to sand. Then you have hot mud that comes as powder in a bag that you mix with water.
I will use a 45 minute hot mud to prefill any gaps. No matter how good you are at hanging there will always be a few gaps in corners or where a corner of the drywall gets busted out when hanging or screwing it. If you don't prefill any gaps you will have issues when taping. I use fiberfuse instead of paper tape for most things, It's a lot easier to work with then paper especially for beginners. Everybody has their own order of how they tape and mud and mine changes depending on the project. Because I want to try to get as much done as I can before I have to let it dry. Doing a single room for someone else can be a pain because there is only so much you can do before you have to let it dry and find something else to do the rest of the day and then come back a few times.
There are also 2 types of drywall finishers, those that use a pan and "knife" and those that use a hawk and trowel. I started out using a pan and knife and what I'm most comfortable with most of the time. I did get into the hawk and trowel a long time ago when I had to match a skip trowel sand texture in a restaurant. I liked it but usually go back to the pan because it's what I spent the most time with in my hands.
Inside corners take the most time because you do one side at a time along with your 3way corners. I ended up buying what they call semi automatic tools over a decade ago and they cut that time way down since they can do both sides at once. I don't do enough to justify an auto taper like pretty much every drywall finisher uses now. I use a banjo most of the time for getting the tape onto the wall, saves a lot of time. I did buy one of these and it works decent for the inside corners,
https://www.amazon.com/Advance-Equipment-Hand-Corner-Flusher/dp/B084KKNQ79/?tag=atomicindus08-20. It's similar to my much more expensive corner flushers on a pole do. If you are doing a decent amount of finishing and want to spend some money vs time look into corner flushers and a mud tube. They make it so easy to finish corners, like I said I spend more time cleaning my tools usually then the actual mud and taping. They aren't crazy expensive but hard to justify unless you're going to be using them a few times a year or big project. I try to add another tool to each drywall job I have over the years to cover the expense. Flat boxes and other tools add up fast and are hard to justify unless you are making money with them. But a banjo and a couple flushers aren't too bad and really make the job a lot more enjoyable.
