I finally figured out why my mud was drying too fast on the board
Spent almost 4 hours yesterday fighting with mud that kept skimming over before I could finish a 12 foot seam. Turns out the box of hot mud I grabbed was 20 minute set instead of 90 minute. Has anyone else grabbed the wrong bag and paid for it in frustration?
grabbed the wrong bag of 20 minute once for a quick patch and still had to throw the whole batch away because it set before I even got it on the board. you lasted four hours? that's commitment right there, I would've just walked away and come back tomorrow.
Holy crap, you actually tried to use 20 minute mud on a whole batch? That's like trying to ice a cake with a flamethrower. I'm with @emerycarr on this one, anything under 90 minute is just asking for trouble unless it's a tiny little patch. I feel your pain on that throw-away batch though, I've done that with a bucket of hot mud before and it's just heartbreaking watching good mud turn to concrete in your pan.
20 minute mud for a 12 foot seam? That's absolute madness, man. You basically tried to race against a ticking time bomb. I bet the second you got that first pass on the board the edges were already crusting up like a bad sunburn. Four hours on a single seam sounds like a nightmare straight out of a drywall horror story. I've made that mistake exactly once with 45 minute stuff on a ceiling and wanted to throw my pan through the window. Never touching anything under 90 minute again unless I'm just doing small patch work.