Funny enough, a buddy of mine had a similar wake-up call when an old pipefitter showed him how a grinder finish told him who was prepping for a real weld or just making it look pretty. Makes you slow down and think twice, you know?

Is it really that big a deal if some water sits for a bit?

Read something from a pattern maker online who said she was doing the same thing for years. Turns out her shoulder slope was fine, but she was cutting her armhole curve too tight on the back. Said she widened it by like 3/16 of an inch and it fixed all her gaping issues. Crazy how such a tiny measurement can mess up the whole fit. I personally spent months adjusting darts before realizing my shoulder seam was just placed too far back. Felt pretty dumb when I moved it forward a quarter inch and everything lay flat. That half a degree thing sounds brutal though, at least you caught it.

Wait did you really try a dollar store caulk gun? @perry.evan I feel your pain man, those things are basically toys not tools.

My buddy thought he was just fixing a sagging gate and ended up digging out an old septic tank nobody knew existed.