Had a plasterer round today to do some plastering for me; guy I use
fairly regularly. We were chatting, and he mentioned an old trick of
the trade for helping to prevent the plaster from going off too quickly
when skimming a ceiling - weeing in the gauging water before mixing up
the plaster.

Anyone ever heard of this before? Certainly a new one on me... or was
he just taking the ****?

Anyway, I'll be watching him like a hawk when he comes back tomorrow to
skim my ceiling ;-)

And another thing.
He used two outwardly identical bags of Bonding plaster today, bought
from Wickes several weeks apart. But the contents of one was grey, and
the other was brown; totally different. What's that all about then?
(I'm talking about the dry powder, so nothing to so with my plasterer's
lavatorial habits...)


David

Lobster wrote:
Had a plasterer round today to do some plastering for me; guy I use
fairly regularly. We were chatting, and he mentioned an old trick of
the trade for helping to prevent the plaster from going off too
quickly when skimming a ceiling - weeing in the gauging water before
mixing up the plaster.

Anyone ever heard of this before? Certainly a new one on me... or was
he just taking the ****?

Anyway, I'll be watching him like a hawk when he comes back tomorrow
to skim my ceiling ;-)

And another thing.
He used two outwardly identical bags of Bonding plaster today, bought
from Wickes several weeks apart. But the contents of one was grey,
and the other was brown; totally different. What's that all about
then? (I'm talking about the dry powder, so nothing to so with my
plasterer's lavatorial habits...)


David

He's taking the mick and if I had a plasterer do that in my home I'd tell
him to sling his hook,and not in nice words at that.

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

"The3rd Earl Of Derby" wrote in message
.uk...
Lobster wrote:
Had a plasterer round today to do some plastering for me; guy I
use
fairly regularly. We were chatting, and he mentioned an old trick
of
the trade for helping to prevent the plaster from going off too
quickly when skimming a ceiling - weeing in the gauging water
before
mixing up the plaster.

Anyone ever heard of this before? Certainly a new one on me... or
was
he just taking the ****?

Anyway, I'll be watching him like a hawk when he comes back
tomorrow
to skim my ceiling ;-)

And another thing.
He used two outwardly identical bags of Bonding plaster today,
bought
from Wickes several weeks apart. But the contents of one was
grey,
and the other was brown; totally different. What's that all about
then? (I'm talking about the dry powder, so nothing to so with my
plasterer's lavatorial habits...)


David

He's taking the mick and if I had a plasterer do that in my home I'd
tell
him to sling his hook,and not in nice words at that.

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite




'**** Off' would be quite adequate !

AWEM

Lobster wrote:
Had a plasterer round today to do some plastering for me; guy I use
fairly regularly. We were chatting, and he mentioned an old trick of
the trade for helping to prevent the plaster from going off too
quickly when skimming a ceiling - weeing in the gauging water before
mixing up the plaster.

Was there a sound of running water while he was recounting this tale?

Mmmmmm

Think we have worked on some of the sites that he has been spreading on.
Well, they smelled like it! Does he do Phone boxes as well?


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

But then he might miss the bucket...

I did have a gas fitter c/o Scottish Power one time when I paid for a
gas fire to be fitted via their shops (before they were sold off)...

I won't say any more on the absolute incompetence shown therein, but the
guy should not have been employable.

Oh, go on then...

No tools or materials (i.e. fireproof cement for the marble backboard he
was supposed to be fitting as part of the job - he asked me to go and
try to buy some !), setting fire to the house - twice - no means of
isolation for the new fire, unable to **** into a toilet without leaving
puddles on the floor on numerous occasions. It was after setting fire to
the house for the second time we decided enough was enough, and refused
him entry, and demanded someone with a clue attend.

That was on top of the Scottish Power shop and the prick of a manager -
damaged / used goods being delivered at least twice, then lying to say
the damaged surround was the last one available (hey, I found one for
you ****wit - at another Scottish Power shop a few of miles away, and
they were happy to admit it by phone - they're not out of stock at all),
but perhaps more worrying was the damaged seals around the fire on one
they tried deliver unwrapped when we'd paid for a new one.

Lobster wrote:
Had a plasterer round today to do some plastering for me; guy I use
fairly regularly. We were chatting, and he mentioned an old trick of
the trade for helping to prevent the plaster from going off too
quickly when skimming a ceiling - weeing in the gauging water before
mixing up the plaster.

Anyone ever heard of this before? Certainly a new one on me... or was
he just taking the ****?

Anyway, I'll be watching him like a hawk when he comes back tomorrow
to skim my ceiling ;-)

And another thing.
He used two outwardly identical bags of Bonding plaster today, bought
from Wickes several weeks apart. But the contents of one was grey,
and the other was brown; totally different. What's that all about
then? (I'm talking about the dry powder, so nothing to so with my
plasterer's lavatorial habits...)


David

And I suppose ****ting in dry wall adhesive helps it stick
better,incidently wasn't someones plaster a slight shade of khaki when he
posted a pic?

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

On Sat, 09 Sep 2006 16:40:33 GMT, Lobster
wrote:


And another thing.
He used two outwardly identical bags of Bonding plaster today, bought
from Wickes several weeks apart. But the contents of one was grey, and
the other was brown; totally different. What's that all about then?

Different quary.

On Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:36:39 GMT The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote :
And I suppose ****ting in dry wall adhesive helps it stick
better,incidently wasn't someones plaster a slight shade of khaki
when he posted a pic?

For reasons I'm not sure of, up to the 1930s it was apparently normal
practice to mix some horse manure into the mix used for rendering
chimney flues. It may just be that the organic matter burned away with
the heat of fires leaving a render that was a bit more flexible than
one of pure cement and sand.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk

On Sat, 09 Sep 2006 20:44:18 +0100, Owain
wrote:

Lobster wrote:
Had a plasterer round today to do some plastering for me; guy I use
fairly regularly. We were chatting, and he mentioned an old trick of
the trade for helping to prevent the plaster from going off too quickly
when skimming a ceiling - weeing in the gauging water before mixing up
the plaster.
Anyone ever heard of this before? Certainly a new one on me... or was
he just taking the ****?

I suspect this is something that has been handed down from plasterer to
mate from the days of lime plaster.

I agree. Pee has been used in the past as a retardant for lime
plaster. I hasten to add that I use citric acid or glue size (is glue
size an acid I wonder?)

Anna


~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England
|""""| ~ Lime plaster repair and conservation
/ ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc
|____| www.kettlenet.co.uk 01359 230642

Lobster wrote:
Had a plasterer round today to do some plastering for me; guy I use
fairly regularly. We were chatting, and he mentioned an old trick of
the trade for helping to prevent the plaster from going off too quickly
when skimming a ceiling - weeing in the gauging water before mixing up
the plaster.

My plasterer put milk powder in the mix to slow it down.
I have not had any problems with the plaster.

Anna Kettle wrote:

I agree. Pee has been used in the past as a retardant for lime
plaster. I hasten to add that I use citric acid or glue size (is glue
size an acid I wonder?)

A retardant?? Ok, I have to ask - why on earth would anyone want to
/retard/ the setting of lime plaster?


--
Grunff

Matty F wrote:
Lobster wrote:
Had a plasterer round today to do some plastering for me; guy I use
fairly regularly. We were chatting, and he mentioned an old trick of
the trade for helping to prevent the plaster from going off too quickly
when skimming a ceiling - weeing in the gauging water before mixing up
the plaster.

My plasterer put milk powder in the mix to slow it down.
I have not had any problems with the plaster.


One has to ask how all these various "additives" were discovered.

Like, once upon a time, somebody made a cup of tea with plaster for a
joke? Oh look, it takes longer to set...

Or somebody left an open bag of plaster right behind a horse?

Or somebody - no, let's not go there. Literally.



--
Ian White

Owain wrote:
Lobster wrote:
Had a plasterer round today to do some plastering for me; guy I use
fairly regularly. We were chatting, and he mentioned an old trick of
the trade for helping to prevent the plaster from going off too
quickly when skimming a ceiling - weeing in the gauging water before
mixing up the plaster.
Anyone ever heard of this before? Certainly a new one on me... or was
he just taking the ****?

I suspect this is something that has been handed down from plasterer to
mate from the days of lime plaster.

Either that or it's an excuse to show you his willy.

Owain


Oh. my brickie definitely did that when working on mortaring a vchimeny
50 ft up.

He said it was quicker to 'knock up' the bucket with a bit of urine to
keep it wet than climb down and get some water...

"Anna Kettle" wrote in message
...


I agree. Pee has been used in the past as a retardant for lime
plaster. I hasten to add that I use citric acid or glue size (is glue
size an acid I wonder?)

Anna

It's been used in very many process for thousands of years. It only seems
acceptable as a compost activator these days.

Mary

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
. net...

"Anna Kettle" wrote in message
...


I agree. Pee has been used in the past as a retardant for lime
plaster. I hasten to add that I use citric acid or glue size (is
glue
size an acid I wonder?)

Anna

It's been used in very many process for thousands of years. It only
seems
acceptable as a compost activator these days.

Mary



Best quality Nuns urine was used for years for making saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) as a constituant of gunpowder.

AWEM

On 2006-09-10 13:21:13 +0100, "Andrew Mawson"
said:


"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
. net...

"Anna Kettle" wrote in message
...


I agree. Pee has been used in the past as a retardant for lime
plaster. I hasten to add that I use citric acid or glue size (is
glue
size an acid I wonder?)

Anna

It's been used in very many process for thousands of years. It only
seems
acceptable as a compost activator these days.

Mary



Best quality Nuns urine was used for years for making saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) as a constituant of gunpowder.

AWEM

Any reason it had to be from nuns or was that just marketing?

On Sun, 10 Sep 2006 13:53:10 +0100, Andy Hall wrote:


Any reason it had to be from nuns or was that just marketing?

Virgin Pee as per Virgin Olive oil ?

Dave

On 2006-09-10 14:15:25 +0100, gort said:

On Sun, 10 Sep 2006 13:53:10 +0100, Andy Hall wrote:


Any reason it had to be from nuns or was that just marketing?

Virgin Pee as per Virgin Olive oil ?

Dave

Ah.... marketing, then.

Lobster wrote:
Had a plasterer round today to do some plastering for me; guy I use
fairly regularly. We were chatting, and he mentioned an old trick of
the trade for helping to prevent the plaster from going off too
quickly when skimming a ceiling - weeing in the gauging water before
mixing up the plaster.

Anyone ever heard of this before? Certainly a new one on me... or was
he just taking the ****?


No he wasn't, it's well known by all the plasterers I've met, although few
actually do it.

Anyway, I'll be watching him like a hawk when he comes back tomorrow
to skim my ceiling ;-)


There's a pun in there somewhere...

And another thing.
He used two outwardly identical bags of Bonding plaster today, bought
from Wickes several weeks apart. But the contents of one was grey,
and the other was brown; totally different. What's that all about
then? (I'm talking about the dry powder, so nothing to so with my
plasterer's lavatorial habits...)

If we get skimming from here (St Helens) it's pink, if we get it from
Manchester , 30 miles away it's always grey, even though it's in the same
bag...I've mixed part bags together and ended up with a sort of brown
coloured plaster without any problems, browning is the same..we don't use
bonding so I don't know about that, but considering it's all made by the
same manufacterer (british gypsum) I assume it is.

On Sun, 10 Sep 2006 13:53:10 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote:

On 2006-09-10 13:21:13 +0100, "Andrew Mawson"
said:


"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
. net...

"Anna Kettle" wrote in message
...


I agree. Pee has been used in the past as a retardant for lime
plaster. I hasten to add that I use citric acid or glue size (is
glue
size an acid I wonder?)

Anna

It's been used in very many process for thousands of years. It only
seems
acceptable as a compost activator these days.

Mary



Best quality Nuns urine was used for years for making saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) as a constituant of gunpowder.

AWEM

Any reason it had to be from nuns or was that just marketing?

Probably just habit.

--
Frank Erskine
Sunderland

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2006-09-10 13:21:13 +0100, "Andrew Mawson"

Best quality Nuns urine was used for years for making saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) as a constituant of gunpowder.

Any reason it had to be from nuns or was that just marketing?


ISTR nunwiddle is or was a sought-after material in the pharmaceutical
industry, in that it contains lots of female hormones but can be
guaranteed - hopefully! - free of the specific hormones which appear
when a woman is pregnant (even before she knows she is). Thus if you
obtained bulk supplies of female urine from any source other than nuns,
there would be a high risk of contamination by said pregancy hormone.

So the issue with nun's urine which makes it sought after is its
guaranteed pregnancy-free status, not the virginal qualities of its
producers.

Whether this has anything to do with gunpowder manufacture goodness only
knows!

David

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
Had a plasterer round today to do some plastering for me; guy I use fairly
regularly. We were chatting, and he mentioned an old trick of the trade
for helping to prevent the plaster from going off too quickly when
skimming a ceiling - weeing in the gauging water before mixing up the
plaster.

Anyone ever heard of this before? Certainly a new one on me... or was he
just taking the ****?



never heard of that ... but when working as a labourer on college breaks,
on a big job with a large number of plasterers or brickies ... if any got
really difficult, a fresh dog turd on the spot, covered with plaster or
compo ... worked a treat when they pushed the trowel into it.

Just make sure you were not in throwing range.

"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message
...



Best quality Nuns urine was used for years for making saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) as a constituant of gunpowder.

Evidence?

Mary

"Phil L" wrote in message
.uk...
Lobster wrote:
Had a plasterer round today to do some plastering for me; guy I use
fairly regularly. We were chatting, and he mentioned an old trick of
the trade for helping to prevent the plaster from going off too
quickly when skimming a ceiling - weeing in the gauging water before
mixing up the plaster.

Anyone ever heard of this before? Certainly a new one on me... or was
he just taking the ****?


No he wasn't, it's well known by all the plasterers I've met, although few
actually do it.

Anyway, I'll be watching him like a hawk when he comes back tomorrow
to skim my ceiling ;-)


There's a pun in there somewhere...

Indeed :-)

I learned fairly recently that kestrels can see the end of spectrum light
invisible to us in vole urine which is what they're waiting for while
hovering at roadsides.

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
. net...

"Andrew Mawson" wrote in
message
...



Best quality Nuns urine was used for years for making saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) as a constituant of gunpowder.

Evidence?

Mary


http://www.gunpowderworks.co.uk/pdf/...m%20nitrate%22

AWEM

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
. net...

"Andrew Mawson" wrote in
message
...



Best quality Nuns urine was used for years for making saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) as a constituant of gunpowder.

Evidence?

Mary



http://www.rh7.org/factsheets/Gunpowder.html

AWEM

The message t
from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:

Best quality Nuns urine was used for years for making saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) as a constituant of gunpowder.

Evidence?

Well, for many years urine was collected for the salpetre, but the
nunniness of it is new to me.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
. net...
"Andrew Mawson" wrote in
message
...
Best quality Nuns urine was used for years for making saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) as a constituant of gunpowder.
Evidence?

Mary


http://www.gunpowderworks.co.uk/pdf/...m%20nitrate%22

Andrew you missed "Best Quality Nun" from your search string :-) I think
that was the bit Mary was querying!

(What's wrong with poor quality nun's urine, anyway?)

David

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
. net...
"Andrew Mawson" wrote in
message
...
Best quality Nuns urine was used for years for making saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) as a constituant of gunpowder.
Evidence?

Mary



http://www.gunpowderworks.co.uk/pdf/...m%20nitrate%22

Andrew you missed "Best Quality Nun" from your search string :-) I
think
that was the bit Mary was querying!

(What's wrong with poor quality nun's urine, anyway?)

David

Tony Robinson will back me up - no problems !!!

AWEM

I learned fairly recently that kestrels can see the end of spectrum light
invisible to us in vole urine which is what they're waiting for while
hovering at roadsides.

Blimey, its a mine of info on here today g.

Dave

Virgin Pee as per Virgin Olive oil ?

Dave

Ah.... marketing, then.

LOL

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
. net...
"Andrew Mawson" wrote in
message
...
Best quality Nuns urine was used for years for making saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) as a constituant of gunpowder.
Evidence?

Mary


http://www.gunpowderworks.co.uk/pdf/...m%20nitrate%22

Andrew you missed "Best Quality Nun" from your search string :-) I think
that was the bit Mary was querying!

Quite. Any old urine can be used for most applicable processes, 'maidens'
water' is an urban myth - except when describing lager.

Mary

"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message
...

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
. net...
"Andrew Mawson" wrote in
message
...
Best quality Nuns urine was used for years for making saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) as a constituant of gunpowder.
Evidence?

Mary



http://www.gunpowderworks.co.uk/pdf/...m%20nitrate%22

Andrew you missed "Best Quality Nun" from your search string :-) I
think
that was the bit Mary was querying!

(What's wrong with poor quality nun's urine, anyway?)

David

Tony Robinson will back me up - no problems !!!

That wouldn't prove anything.

"Guy King" wrote in message
...
The message t
from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:

Best quality Nuns urine was used for years for making saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) as a constituant of gunpowder.

Evidence?

Well, for many years urine was collected for the salpetre, but the
nunniness of it is new to me.

Quite.

Mary

"gort" wrote in message
news

I learned fairly recently that kestrels can see the end of spectrum light
invisible to us in vole urine which is what they're waiting for while
hovering at roadsides.

Blimey, its a mine of info on here today g.

I've become quite an authority of the male micturation process in the last
few weeks.

Spouse is now ensconced in the urology ward at St James where tomorrow he'll
have a radical tretropubic prostatectomy.

That's not a diy project ...

Mary

Dave

The message t
from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:

Quite. Any old urine can be used for most applicable processes, 'maidens'
water' is an urban myth - except when describing lager.

Otherwise known as Love-in-a-punt beer.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

"Guy King" wrote in message
...
The message t
from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:

Quite. Any old urine can be used for most applicable processes, 'maidens'
water' is an urban myth - except when describing lager.

Otherwise known as Love-in-a-punt beer.

I bow to your greater experience - the last time I was in a punt (Cambridge,
26 March 2005) we drank champagne.

Our daughter-in-law was a student there at the time and we were celebrating
our sapphire wedding anniversary. The incident which I'll never forget was
that Christine (d-i-l) opened the bottle and the cork fell into the water
despite everyone trying to catch it. "Never mind," she said, "we'll get it
on the way back."

On the way back she put her hand in the water and pulled out the cork, to
everyone's amazement.

Yes it WAS the same cork - not many people drink that particular bubbly.

Mary

On Sun, 10 Sep 2006 20:43:04 +0100, Mary Fisher wrote:

where tomorrow he'll have a radical tretropubic prostatectomy.

Now I'd normally wander over to google to find out what that is but I
don't think I'm going to bother on this occasion. B-)

sitting with legs crossed

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

In message , Mary
Fisher writes

"Guy King" wrote in message
...
The message t
from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:

Quite. Any old urine can be used for most applicable processes, 'maidens'
water' is an urban myth - except when describing lager.

Otherwise known as Love-in-a-punt beer.

I bow to your greater experience - the last time I was in a punt (Cambridge,
26 March 2005) we drank champagne.

Yes, but were you or were you not ****ing close to water ?


--
geoff