Can someone tell me what a lime burner does my ggrandfater was one at the Blaenavon brickworks he also gave that as his address, did they live at their work back then? thankyou Mariane

Do you like to live on the edge? How about creating and handling an extremely nasty chemical agent to make a vital component of mortar?

Running a lime kiln requires you to supervise the heating of chalk – or, near the coast, oyster shells – until they start producing carbon dioxide. This can easily make you drowsy or even paralyse you before you suffocate. Don't worry, though – you only have to sit with the kiln for 48 hours at a time.

If you really like a risky challenge, the next process could be for you. The hard cake of quicklime (calcium oxide) is taken from the kiln and added to water. It immediately reacts, producing intense heat and a shower of caustic, agony-inducing specks of slaked lime (calcium hydroxide). These crumbly grains are then crushed into lime powder, which will be added to sand to make mortar. You obviously don't need safety goggles because they haven't been invented yet.

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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster & Hereford Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>

Thanks slowhands, what must their lives have been like?, probably died young, they certainly worked hard back then,no wonder life expectancy was so low, Mariane