Found a real use for a 4-foot level on butt joints, who knew

I mean, I've been hanging board for about 9 years now, mostly commercial work around Austin. Butt joints always gave me trouble, especially on ceilings where the taper is subtle. Tried the usual tricks like pre-filling and using hot mud, but I kept getting that tiny hump no matter what. Last week on a job in Round Rock, this old timer I was working with told me to lay a 4-foot level across the butt joint before it set, not just to check it but to actually press it down flat. We did that on a few joints and let it sit maybe 10 minutes, and when we pulled it off, the board was dead flat, no belly. I've been using my 6-foot knife for that all this time and it never worked as good. Has anyone else tried pushing the board flat with a level like that, or is this just some weird regional thing? I'm curious if there's a better tool for this that I'm missing.

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