Recycled drywall mud made me a believer after 5 years of hating on it

I used to trash anyone who mentioned using reclaimed joint compound, figured it was always lumpy garbage. Then last month I had a small patch job in a rental unit where the old bucket was still soft, so I gave it a shot instead of driving 20 minutes to the big box store. Mixed in a little water and some dish soap for smoothness, and it spread like butter, honestly better than some fresh bags I've used. Took about 40 minutes total for the whole repair versus my usual hour and a half. Now I'm wondering if I've been wasting money on new compound for years, anyone else had luck reviving old drywall mud? What's your go-to trick for getting it back to workable?

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corah752mo ago

And I had the exact opposite thing happen with a five gallon bucket I thought was good, it had skin on top but the middle was still wet, so I tried to revive it and ended up with these weird hard chunks that ruined my whole finish. I mean, maybe it depends on how old it is and what kind of base they used, because the cheap stuff just doesn't come back the same. So now I'm paranoid every time I pop a lid, and I check the texture with my finger before I even grab a trowel.

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