Spent years using a utility knife the backwards way until a journeyman called me out

I've been drywalling for about 4 years now. Always cut with the blade facing toward my body because it felt more natural. Last Tuesday I was on a job in a basement remodel and this old timer named Mike comes over and just watches me for a minute. He goes "you know you're supposed to score away from yourself right?" I brushed it off but he showed me how much cleaner the cut is when you pull the knife toward you with the blade facing away. Tried it on the next sheet and honestly the edge was way smoother with less crumbling. I must have wasted hundreds of sheets over the years doing it wrong. Has anyone else had a basic habit they had to unlearn after years in the trade?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_avery10d ago

Switched to pulling instead of pushing and my cuts got way cleaner almost overnight.

robert2489d agoTop Commenter

My table saw gave me cleaner cuts pushing every time for 15 years now. I switched to pulling on the router table once and blew out the back edge of a piece of walnut. What makes pulling better for your setup? Maybe it depends on the blade or the fence alignment. I just see more tearout with pulling on anything I've tried. Different strokes I guess but I'm sticking with push.