Side Line

Have you been to the farm store lately? Varnish is $50/gallon now. Caulk was too expensive before they doubled the prices. What to do?

Couple years ago I tried a clay+lime recipe or two. Variants of what folks used to chink they log cabins with. Couple problems arise: what the heck is lime, anyhow, and boy does this stuff absorb water. See the painted failures in this photo: 

I'm at it again, this time with Portland, no lime. I found a recipe and have mixed up two wee batches in the kitchen. Yes it does work like clay and yes, 48 hours later it's hard as concrete.

Not at all confident that it'll stick to those hundred-year-old cedar planks but we'll see next spring. I might throw some paint over the top one day soon.

I found a recipe ― well more like a guideline considering my slap-dash style of measuring and mixing ― in a Bachelor's Thesis from 1940.

―――――

1) Smothers, William Joseph, "The effect of clays on the properties of masonry cement" (1940). Bachelors Theses. 125. 

https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/bachelors_theses/125

2) I've managed not to get completely lost in this treasure:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Brick_and_Clay_Record/MxpbAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 but it's early days yet.