In this paper we re-examine the problem of applying a thin layer of a power-law fluid to a solid substrate by means of a simple blade coater. Specifically we use lubrication theory to examine steady plane flow of a power-law fluid in the narrow nonuniform channel formed between a fixed blade of prescribed shape and a plane substrate moving parallel to itself. The first-order asymptotic solution for the case of a weakly non-Newtonian fluid is presented. An explicit expression is obtained for the first-order pressure gradient from which the first-order contributions to several important physical quantities including the thickness of the applied fluid layer and the forces on the blade are calculated for both plane and exponentially shaped blades. In particular, we find that, depending on the shape and height ratio of the coater, the effect of weakly non-Newtonian behavior can be either to increase or to decrease both the pressure and the load from their Newtonian values. We also re-examine the approximate solutions of Hwang [Trans. ASME J. Fluids Eng. 104, 469 (1982)] and Dien and Elrod [Trans. ASME J. Lubrication Technol. 105, 385 (1983)] and make a detailed comparison between their predictions and those of the exact solution in the weakly non-Newtonian limit. We find that in this limit the Dien and Elrod approximation is usually in significantly better agreement with the exact solution than Hwang’s approximation. In the Appendix we re-examine the Dien and Elrod approximate solution for the flow of a generalized Newtonian fluid.