Shoutout to those corner bead clips I swore were a gimmick

I was at a supply house in Denver about 6 months ago and the guy behind the counter tried to sell me a box of those plastic corner bead clips instead of nails. I laughed and told him I've been hand nailing corners for 15 years and don't need a shortcut. Then I had a job with 40 outside corners and my wrist was killing me after the first 10. So I caved and tried the clips on a whim, figuring I'd just use nails on the rest if they failed. Turns out they hold just as tight as nails and I finished those corners in half the time without any splits or dents in the bead. Has anyone else here been converted by a tool or product they thought was pointless at first? Or do you still swear by the old ways?

3 comments

3 Comments

williamhenderson20d ago

I dunno, 40 corners hardly seems worth switching your whole system over.

murray.robert20d ago

Read a blog post from a drywaller out in Portland who said the same thing about those clips. He was dead set against them until his supplier threw in a free box with his order. @williamhenderson might have a point about 40 corners not being a huge deal, but when your wrist is screaming at you it's worth trying anything once.

linda_reed19d ago

...and I'm sitting here thinking 40 corners is... a lot? But is it really that serious where we need to start buying plastic clips and rethinking our whole process? @murray.robert I get that the blog guy had a good experience, but one batch of corners with a sore wrist doesn't mean we all gotta jump ship. I've had days where my hands hurt worse than that and I still got the job done with the same tools I've used for years. Maybe it's just me but I feel like every season there's some new gadget that's gonna "change the game" and half the time it just sits in the truck collecting dust.