HOW TO COAT NAILS (1ST, 2ND & 3RD COAT NAILS & SCREWS)
Okay, "Spot Nails" is just kind of a slang term for coating your nails and screws. It's pretty easy to do and I will try to show you how. For rookies it's probably easiest doing one nail or screw at a time. Wipe the mud on, wipe it back off. As you get better you can start doing 2 and 3 at a time. Nails and screws should get 3 total coats. Not at once, 1st coat, then let it dry, 2nd coat...ect..
Depending on how thick the finish texture is going to be you might be able to get by with 2 coats. I would go with 3 coats no matter what.
I'm going to show you how to coat them once. Just do the same thing for all three coats. The day I took my camera to work the screws already had a couple coats on them but for the sake of this lesson, just pretend they are fresh new, uncoated screws.
STEP 2: Apply Mud
Put your pointer finger in the center of the knife. This will give you the best control. Try to get a little glob of mud on the bottom edge of your Knife. Now starting on the bottom lay a narrow bed of mud all the way up through the screws. When you get to the top, take a sharp right,at the same time applying more pressure on the bottom corner of the knife until the mud flow stops.
STEP 3: Wipe
Now spin your wrist around and wipe right down and back through the screws. If you can master this you are on your way to becoming a pro nail spotter. The mud you just wiped off is now loaded back onto the knife and ready for the next row. Every once in a while the mud will thicken up on you, it will start getting hard to work. Just keep rotating in new mud from your pan. When your whole pan of mud gets too thick, throw that pan full back into your bucket of mud and get some fresh stuff.
Here are just a few more bonus tips:
Some finisher's will 1st coat with a 6 inch knife, 2nd coat with and 8 inch, ect..
This is your call, I use a 6 inch for all 3 coats. If you can do this right, you will have very little sandind to do on your nails.
Avoid wiping both sides of the knife on your pan. Always try to keep the finger side of the knife as dry and clean as possible. Most knives have a logo or something on the handle (on one side). I always make the logo side my finger side. Decide what side you want your finger side to be and stick to it. If you're flipping the knife all the time it will get all wet, dirty and sloppy and gross. You want your pointer finger to stay dry. (you'll see what I mean) Keep that finger dry and things will go a lot smoother.
Here is a small video that will show you how to spot nails
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