Collaboration
ART
BEAUTY & WELLNESS
CRAFT
CULTURE & HISTORY
ENTERTAINMENT
ENVIRONMENT
FOOD & DRINKS
REVERSE ENGINEERING
SCIENCES
SPORTS
TECHNOLOGY
WEARABLES
Long-Slaked Lime for Stucco, Proved with the Hoe Test (Vitruvius, Book VII)
Vitruvius's rule for stucco lime: slake the best lump lime in water a good while before use, so under-burnt lumps finish slaking in the pit instead of blistering on the wall, then prove it with a hoe: lime that sticks to the iron like glue is fully tempered.
Beginner
A good while of slaking (he gives no time), then minutes to test
Instructions
1
1
Read Vitruvius
Read Vitruvius
"This will be all right if the best lime, taken in lumps, is slaked a good while before it is to be used."
2
2
Slake the lumps
Slake the lumps
Put the best lump lime in the mortar bed and slake it in water (ours: cover it and keep it covered with water). Leave it a good while: any lump not burnt long enough in the kiln throws off its heat in the long slaking and comes to the same consistency.
Materials for this step:
Quicklime1 piece
Water1 pieceTools needed:
Mortar Box
Shovel
Bucket3
3
Hoe test
Hoe test
Chop into the slaked lime with a hoe as if hewing wood. Sticks in bits: not yet tempered, wait. Iron comes out dry and clean: the lime is weak and thirsty. Sticks to the tool like glue: rich and fully tempered, ready for stucco.
Tools needed:
Hoe4
4
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Stucco lime troubleshooting.
Flow
Loading...
5
5
History and honest limits
History and honest limits
From Vitruvius, **The Ten Books on Architecture**, Book VII ch. II, tr. M. H. Morgan (1914), pp. 204-205 (checked on the archive.org scan vitruviustenbook00vitruoft). He gives no slaking time and no water amount; keeping the lime under water and the safety notes are ours.
This blueprint makes
Related Blueprints
These blueprints share knowledge with this one — techniques, materials, or principles that connect them in the learning graph.
CC0 Public Domain
This blueprint is released under CC0. You are free to copy, modify, distribute, and use this work for any purpose, without asking permission.
Support the Maker by purchasing products through their Blueprint where they earn a Maker Commission set by Vendors, or create a new iteration of this Blueprint and include it as a connection in your own Blueprint to share revenue.