metal 'brings lime to the surface'

[middi]

The Captain relying solely on his sextant will guide his ship to the next port , the same as a captain relying solely on the latest GPS and radar system.

A person can get warm by lighting a wood fire, the same as the person using the latest central heating system.

Everyone is entitled to achieve their goal, it is their responsability as to how destructive they become along the way.

Nobody is right, nobody is wrong.

 

[Penners]

Middi - you're a poet and a philosopher!

 

[middi]

that's nice Penners. ( if only !!!!)

It must be all those years spend in isolation wrestling with historical buildings which has induced the lateral thinking

Not a bu**er around when when sound advise was required, but plenty of criticism when the job was finshed.

Then thought " sod them", my way to crak a nut is as good as anybody, and it tastes a lot better.

Old buildings..? I would advise use of a philosophical aprroach in order to maintain sanity.

 

[Nemesis]

OK - group hug time over.

Far too touch feely this thread.

 

[Sue Wilkinson]

A bit late to join in, and I don't know why it works, but it does. I do a lot of pointing and I find that if I can get the mix into the joint in one or two passes of the pointing tool its fine, but if the joint is akward (random stone walling for example) and I have to fiddle with it and pass the metal tools over it more than twice an obvious lime layer appears and it also gets wetter. Rather like the effect of puddling your feet in the damp sand when the tide is going out. What appeared at first to be solid suddenly becomes soft, wet and yielding as you work it. So I guess as you press the bigger bits of aggregate (having more surface area to receive your energy and less ability to squidge out of the way) get pushed back further and leave the smaller bits and the lime particles out front feeling lonely.

I get the same effect with plaster so I tend to get the mix on roughly with as little number of passes as possible and flatten it off with a wood float or sponge as it takes up some resistance. I've seen people using plastic floats for lime polishing where they have cut the face off (the textured bit) and just use the smooth interior of the back where the handle sits. I've also seen people use hard foam, the sort that heavy goods are packaged with, to polish up plaster. I think its a case of what you like you get on with. Me and my sponge finish are very happy with each other.

Sue