Apparatus and method for shaping drywall mud

Abstract

A drywall mud-shaping tool and a method of using the same to finish cured drywall mud. The tool has a flexible blade that does not contact an exterior surface of a drywall sheet until pressure is applied to the blade. Pressure is applied to the blade by holding the tool's housing in a user's hands and pressing downwardly thereon while drawing the housing across the sheet's exterior surface. The pressure causes the blade to move from a first position where the blade is spaced a distance away from the drywall sheet, to a second position where the blade contacts the drywall sheet. The blade removes some cured drywall mud from the exterior surface and collects the same in a collection chamber provided in the tool housing. The housing may be moved across the drywall sheet's exterior surface a number of times to finish the cured drywall mud.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A drywall mud-shaping tool comprising:
 a main body housing having a bottom adapted to be placed in contact with an exterior surface of a sheet of drywall;   a blade provided on the main body housing; wherein said blade is movable between a first position and a second position upon application of pressure to the main body housing; wherein when the blade is in the first position, a bottom edge of the blade is adapted to be spaced a distance away from the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall; and wherein when the blade is in the second position, the bottom edge of the blade is adapted to contact the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall.   
     
     
         2 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 1  wherein the blade is movable between the first and second positions through application of hand-applied pressure to the main body housing. 
     
     
         3 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 1 , wherein the blade is flexible. 
     
     
         4 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 1 , wherein the blade is selectively removable from the main body housing. 
     
     
         5 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one wheel engaged with the main body housing and adapted to contact the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall; and when the blade is in the first position, the bottom edge of the blade is located inwardly of a region of the at least one wheel that contacts the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall. 
     
     
         6 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 5 , wherein when the blade is in the second position, the bottom edge of the blade is located substantially flush with the region of the at least one wheel that contacts the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall. 
     
     
         7 . the drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one wear pad provided on the main body housing and adapted to contact the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall; and when blade is in the first position, the bottom edge of the blade is located inwardly of a region of the at least one wear pad that contacts the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall. 
     
     
         8 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 7 , wherein when the blade is in the second position, the bottom edge of the blade is located substantially flush with the region of the at least one wear pad that contacts the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall. 
     
     
         9 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 1 , wherein the main body housing has a front side and a rear side; and wherein the drywall mud-shaping tool further comprises a collection chamber defined within the main body housing. 
     
     
         10 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 1 , wherein the blade includes two or more cutting edges. 
     
     
         11 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 10 , wherein the two or more cutting edges each includes a differently shaped cutting profile. 
     
     
         12 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 1 , further comprising a blade cover selectively engageable with the main body housing and over the blade. 
     
     
         13 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 12 , further comprising at least one magnet provided on the blade cover, wherein the blade cover is selectively magnetically engaged with the main body housing. 
     
     
         14 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 1 , wherein the blade is oriented at an angle relative to a lowermost edge of the main body housing; and wherein the angle is from about 52 degrees up to about 72 degrees relative to the lowermost edge. 
     
     
         15 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 1 , wherein the main body housing has a front side and a rear side; and wherein the drywall mud-shaping tool further comprises a wiper engaged with the main body housing proximate the rear side. 
     
     
         16 . The drywall mud-shaping tool of  claim 15 , wherein the wiper extends outwardly beyond a lowermost edge of the main body housing. 
     
     
         17 . A method of shaping drywall mud comprising the steps of:
 applying wet drywall mud to an exterior surface of a sheet of drywall;   allowing sufficient time for the wet drywall mud to cure such that a quantity of cured drywall mud is provided on the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall;   placing a drywall mud-shaping tool against the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall;   applying hand-pressure to a main body housing of the drywall mud-shaping tool in a direction oriented at right angles to the exterior surface;   moving a blade provided on the main body housing from a first position to a second position with respect to the main body housing;   contacting the cured drywall mud with an edge of the blade when the blade is in the second position; and   drawing the drywall mud-shaping tool across the cured drywall mud in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall; and   removing some of the cured drywall mud from the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall using the blade.   
     
     
         18 . The method as defined in  claim 17 , further comprising:
 collecting at least some of the removed cured drywall mud in a collection chamber provided on the drywall mud-shaping tool.   
     
     
         19 . The method as defined in  claim 17 , further comprising:
 rolling the drywall mud-shaping tool across the exterior surface on at least one wheel mounted on the drywall mud-shaping tool; or   sliding the drywall mud-shaping tool across the exterior surface on at least one wear pad mounted on the drywall mud-shaping tool.   
     
     
         20 . The method as defined in  claim 17 , wherein the removing of some of the cured drywall mud comprises:
 positioning the blade within a main body housing of the drywall mud-shaping tool in a first orientation;   presenting a first cutting edge of the blade for contact with the cured drywall mud when the blade is in the first orientation;   contouring the cured drywall mud with the first cutting edge in a first pass across the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall.   
     
     
         21 . The method as defined in  claim 20 , further comprising:
 removing the blade from within the main body housing;   rotating or flipping the blade;   engaging the rotated or flipped blade in the main body housing in a second orientation;   presenting a second cutting edge of the blade for contact with the cured drywall mud when the blade is in the second orientation; and   contouring the cured drywall mud with the second cutting edge in a second pass across the exterior surface of the sheet of drywall.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising;
 contacting the cured drywall mud with a wiper extending outwardly from the drywall mud-shaping tool; and   cleaning or smoothing the cured drywall mud with the wiper prior to removing some of the cured drywall mud with the blade.   
     
     
         23 . A method of finishing drywall comprising steps of:
 applying wet drywall mud to an exterior surface of a drywall sheet;   allowing sufficient time for the wet drywall mud to cure such that a quantity of cured drywall mud is on the exterior surface;   placing a contoured edge of a flexible blade of a drywall mud-shaping tool against the exterior surface of the drywall sheet;   applying pressure to a main body housing of the drywall mud-shaping tool;   contacting an unfinished surface of the cured drywall mud with the blade while applying pressure;   drawing the blade across the unfinished surface of the cured drywall mud;   removing some of the cured drywall mud from the exterior surface with the contoured edge of the blade;   contouring the cured drywall mud with the contoured edge of the blade to form a contoured surface;   releasing pressure on the main body housing;   placing a straight edge of the flexible blade against the exterior surface of the drywall sheet;   applying pressure to the main body housing;   contacting the contoured surface with the straight edge of the blade while applying pressure;   drawing the blade across the contoured surface;   removing some of the cured drywall mud from the contoured surface; and   forming a finished surface of the cured drywall mud on the exterior surface of the drywall sheet.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23  further comprising:
 rotating or flipping the blade within a main body housing of the drywall mud-shaping tool to present either the contoured edge or the straight edge of the blade for contact with the exterior surface of the drywall sheet. 
 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 23  further comprising:
 collecting material removed from the cured drywall mud with the blade in a collection chamber provided in the main body housing; and 
 periodically emptying out the collected material from the collection chamber.