Found out the hard way that old compound on a mixer blade ruins your finish

Tara Price · 2026-05-12T21:05:04.776797+00:00

Last week on a job in Oakville, I didn't clean my paddle mixer from the day before and thought a quick rinse was enough. Started mixing a new bucket of all-purpose and those dried chunks came loose into the fresh mud. Spent an extra 2 hours sanding out little bumps on a ceiling I had already taped smooth. Has anyone else had a batch ruined by not scrubbing the blade good enough?

xena3735mo ago

Rinse that thing with a scrub brush right after you finish. Did you use hot water or just cold? Hot water makes a big difference on getting that old compound off before it hardens.

4

the_wren3mo ago

Ngl, did you try scraping it with a 6-inch knife first?

2

charlienelson5mo ago

xena373 saying use hot water and a scrub brush right after sounds nice but honestly that's overkill for most jobs. I've been doing this for years and I just give my paddle a quick dunk in the bucket water and call it good. Never had a problem with chunks ruining my finish. Maybe you got a bad batch of mud or something because dried compound should just break apart and mix in if you're using fresh mud that's wet enough. Plus if you're spending 2 hours sanding out bumps you're probably pushing your mud too thick on the second coat anyway. Let the mud do the work and stop blaming it on a dirty blade.

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