horse hair plaster

[angrybird]

This may seem like a silly question but where did they get the horse hair from that they added to lime plaster ?( please dont say horses haha! :roll: ) would it have been from working horses eg. pit ponies, farm horses ? I have noticed so many colours of hair as I have been removing some blown plaster and it seems very soft in texture not like tail or mane texture.

 

[Keith Bowman]

You sure it was horse hair? Current availability seems to be cow, goat or pig, which would tie in with your observation that the hair seems softer than you expected for a horse. Quite possibly they simply used whatever was available locally.

 

[Feltwell]

As Keith says, I think that whatever was available would have been used. No shortage of horse hair in times gone by though, I presume the knacker's yard would have sold it.

 

[Penners]

In a vernacular building it's likely that any hair that happened to be available was used - horse, goat, cow... even human. Beggars couldn't be choosers.

 

[angrybird]

You sure it was horse hair? Current availability seems to be cow, goat or pig, which would tie in with your observation that the hair seems softer than you expected for a horse. Quite possibly they simply used whatever was available locally.

Thanks for your replys Keith , Penners & Feltwell.....No im not sure it is horse, there does seem to be an awful lot of blonde and ginger coloured hair! I do hope I don't unearth any hairless bodies hidden in the walls :lol:

 

[MdB]

Remember, hair changes colour over time, especially when dunked in chemicals (such as lime) for a while. For example, the ginger hair of Tollund Man is unlikely to be have been originally that.

 

[Zebra]

This may seem like a silly question but where did they get the horse hair from that they added to lime plaster ?( please dont say horses haha! :roll: ) would it have been from working horses eg. pit ponies, farm horses ? I have noticed so many colours of hair as I have been removing some blown plaster and it seems very soft in texture not like tail or mane texture.

Correct me if I'm wrong everybody, but it's not the mane or tail hair that they used, it's the body hair, which would be very soft in texture and could be any colour from pale beige to black or grey. I suppose it would have been sourced locally. There would have been plenty more horses around than there are now.

 

[Feltwell]

could be any colour from pale beige to black or grey.

Or just white. Or black. Nothing inbetween. :twisted:

(Sorry, couldn't resist!)

 

[Zebra]

Oh absolutely Feltwell, I shall be using my own for the living room walls, and will have to do some panels with black, and some panels with white, because it absolutely mustn't be mixed! But looking at the existing plaster it would seem that there weren't many zebras in St Albans in the 17th century.

 

[Feltwell]

You'll get awfully cold - summer in St Albans is just no match for the savannah you know.........

 

[Zebra]

Summer in St Albans is no match for the savannah.........Don't I know it! In the savannah you get more than two boards of external wall insulation on before it rains. In fact, in the savannah you don't even need wall insulation.... In fact... in the savannah you don't even need walls.
But as for the hair I'm moulting like you wouldn't believe. In fact, angrybird, do you want some? Black or white?

 

[angrybird]

Summer in St Albans is no match for the savannah.........Don't I know it! In the savannah you get more than two boards of external wall insulation on before it rains. In fact, in the savannah you don't even need wall insulation.... In fact... in the savannah you don't even need walls.
But as for the hair I'm moulting like you wouldn't believe. In fact, angrybird, do you want some? Black or white?

awww thanks Zebra I couldn't quite make my mind up what colour ! :lol:

 

[Feltwell]

I wonder what hair they use in their lime plaster in Brazil?









Alpaca?
Mule?

 

[Feltwell]

.

 

[Penners]

Is that a secret microdot, Feltwell?

How exciting!

 

[Feltwell]

No, it's a "numpty presses submit twice then can't delete the duplicate post" dot.

 

[Flyfisher]

'Secret microdot' sounds better. :wink:

 

[Penners]

No, it's a "numpty presses submit twice then can't delete the duplicate post" dot.

Hmmm - not sure whether you could get all that on to a microdot.

 

[Feltwell]

No, it's a "numpty presses submit twice then can't delete the duplicate post" dot.

Hmmm - not sure whether you could get all that on to a microdot.

No problem for this chap:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/8539726.stm

 

[Penners]

Ah, but he obviously had Divine Assistance (or an awful lot of spare time on his hands).