 Re: "Red Gum Roarer" Part 2
Damon,
the Gyprock guys simply coat the sides of their buckets with transmission oil (or any oil for that matter), so that they simply crack and tip out the left over hard plaster, NOT to improve the workability of the plasters used. A qick and easy cleanout for their next mix.
When I built my current house back in 75, the brickies bought 20l buckets of a mild liquid detergent which was in reality a surfactant and was used to improve the workability of the mortar. Only last year when I undertook a major renovation, the plasterer was mixing a tablespoon of laundry detergent powder in his base render mix for the same reason when he was hard plastering the feature brick walls and plaster patchups where we removed brick arches and unwanted walls.
Hey, have you bought redgum firewood lately? Thought that I'd buy a bit of nice dry wood for the Pompeii on Sunday, could only fit 70kg in the boot (together with my toolbox and dismantled sacktruck trolley) Aus$258 per ton!!! I haven't bought wood for 10 to 12 years. It is transported 800km from Balranald in the NSW. I used around 1/3 of it so it will cost around $5 to $6 per firing. Not bad for a family and friends fiest.
Neill  |