I always find myself holding a pan with one inch of leftover mud when I need to stop and come back later. Once I just left my taping knives in the pan. Big mistake. When I came back 4 hours later in the afternoon, both of my new knives were rusted over. Now I try to wipe the knives clean before I call it a day, but what should I do with leftover mud? I thought I could add a bit water and mix well to make it last longer, but so far the result has been disappointing. I always come back to a pan of crusty compound. Even if I then add more water to revive the mud, I get a lumpy and unusable result.
What do people do with leftover mud when they need to call it a day? Dump it? I did that a couple of times. It takes a lot of time and paper towels to get the mud out of the pan and give the pan a rough scrub. It seems a hassle and a waste especially when I plan on coming back to the project in a couple hours.
Best Answer
Do not leave mud in a pan.
If it's premixed mud, just put it back in the bucket, put the lid back on, then clean your tools.
If it's powdered setting type from a bag, throw the used mud in the bin, then clean your tools.