Heck yeah, it can! I used my carbon steel putty knife to remove wallpaper glue from my kitchen walls last year, and it worked way better than I thought. Let me tell you how.
First, wallpaper glue is sticky, goopy stuff-you need something that can scrape it off without scratching the drywall. Carbon steel's blade is sharp enough to lift the glue, but not so sharp it tears the wall. I sprayed the walls with warm water to soften the glue, then ran the edge of the knife along the surface. The glue came right up in little clumps-no scrubbing for hours.
The flex helped too! My walls aren't perfectly flat (old house problems), and the blade bent a tiny bit to follow the wall, so I didn't miss any glue spots. I tried a stiff metal scraper first-left glue in the little dents, and even scraped off some drywall paper. Carbon steel? Nope, smooth sailing.
Only thing to remember: Wipe the glue off the blade right away. Glue dries hard, and if it sits on carbon steel, it can trap moisture (hello, rust!). I kept a damp rag handy, wiped the blade after every few scrapes, then dried it off when I was done. No rust, no mess.
If you're tackling wallpaper glue, don't overcomplicate it-grab your carbon steel putty knife. It's cheap, easy to use, and gets the job done without ruining your walls. I finished my kitchen in half the time I thought it'd take, all thanks to that knife.
