Flat Box Blade and Shoe Replacement

Robby Deatherage, lead technician at LEVEL5 Tools taking you through the simple process of replacing your flat box blade and shoes. While this may be an easy bit of maintenance for someone experienced in drywall finishing, there are a couple important steps that, if overlooked, can lead to lines or streaks on the wall.

LEVEL5 Tools Drywall Finishing Flat Box Blade & Shoe Replacement

First Tip: Thoroughly clean your blade holder before inserting the new blade; we recommend a wire brush or flathead screwdriver. If debris is left in the blade holder, it might cause poor alignment of the blade (e.g. one side marginally higher than the other) which could result in an uneven finish.

Second Tip: Make sure that there is no gap between the blade and the shoes. If there is a gap, edging might occur when finishing.

Pro Tip: Give the new blade a slight bend before inserting it into the blade holder for a tighter fit that's easier to work with.

Blade Replacement Guideline: Make sure to replace your blade when necessary. The blades are most prone to wear on the corners and if they are not replaced they will put added wear onto the shoes which will then need replacing faster than normal.

Blade and Shoe Replacement Kit

LEVEL5 Tools offers affordable, complete maintenance and repair kits for all automatic drywall finishing tools. Click here to view our full range of drywall flat box maintenance and repair kits.

Finisher First

The finisher comes first at LEVEL5 Tools and that’s why we’ve designed our drywall tools with easy to access parts, numerous innovations, convenient replacement kits and offer helpful how-to videos that walk users through repairs step-by-step to get back to drywall taping & finishing in no time.