Worked concrete for years and honestly the direction thing feels overblown unless your mud is straight garbage. Half the time the mix or the sun messing with your cream matters way more than which way you drag a float. Dale might've just caught you on a good pour.

Why does this keep happening with tools we trust most? Same thing with my bathroom scale. It was reading 5 lbs light for who knows how long. I thought I was doing good but nope. And my oven runs 25 degrees cold so every recipe was off. We just assume stuff is right until we check it. Four years is a long time to trust a tool that was lying to you.

Watched a buddy try that on his Nissan and it did nothing.