Ever try a pressure washer attachment?

That "sets hard and doesn't shrink" part is the whole game. I had a guy do a skim coat in my old house with regular mud and it cracked in a million hairline webs after a year. He had to come back and redo the whole wall with a setting compound. It was a huge mess. I learned my lesson that day about using the right mud for the job.

Oh man, that's way more than wear and tear. I had a seam roller just crumble in my hand once, the plastic handle turned to dust like it was a thousand years old. Another time, the metal foot on my stretcher sheared right off when I put pressure on it, sounded like a gunshot. Tools just give up at the worst moments, and it's never a clean break, it's always a total disaster.

Man, that hits home. I used a punch that was way too big on some sheet metal for a whole summer. My old boss finally walked by and just shook his head, told me I was deforming every panel. Felt like a total idiot but man was he right. You just don't know until someone shows you.

I've used a bit of candle wax for the same thing, works like a charm.