Quote Originally Posted by BPTactical View Post
^^^ what the Beast said-the "tricks" save your keester.

edge of a decent drywall knife you will see it has a slight bow to it. You want to always hold the knife so the concave part of the bow faces the wall, it leaves a slight swale to your mud pass. s.

both sides of the knife have a purpose,

the concave side is good when you are trying to hide tape, or outside corner metal not good when floating an inside corner or a patch,

i actually use the convex side exclusively, i like the way it feathers and it never leaves a knife edge in my finish, and it allows for way more control of the flow of mud, but i also have 15 years of experience doing it so have developed my own style.

texture free finishes are actually no big deal when once you get the hang of it.