I am fed up with opening tubs of lime putty and finding that there is not the 15 litres I was expecting, I assume I am being charged for 15 litres so why am I not getting them all?

its not just the annoyance of being cheated but that I risk not having enough to complete the project.

This phenomenon is not restricted to one supplier and I assume its not deliberate but simply failure to properly supervise who ever is filling the tubs, I expect they shovel in the lime putty till the tub looks full and then in transit the putty settles down properly and hey presto the tub is half full. Why not fill the tubs on some scales or tamp the lime down properly because you wouldn’t get away with this in a bar – a pint has to be a pint so why can’t 15 litres be 15 litres and not somewhere between 10 and 15. 

There is a real danger that we are in some kind of quality creep in which lime tubs are not full and ready mixed mortars contain less lime – almost all ready made finishing plasters I have purchased have nowhere near enough lime putty in them – Fine sands need more lime – its all down to surface area: the finer the sand the greater the surface area hence silver sand requires to be mixed with at least as much lime putty – i.e 1:1 not 1:2.5 as with course stuff.  Come on, we need good quality materials and that means the correct amount of lime – adding stone dust instead to maintain workability is not good enough

The materials are expensive enough for goodness sake so lets have some good stuff.

This isn’t a case of workman blames tools – I know the materials are sometimes not good enough and so I have to adjust them to suite the project, I know I have to do that, many others don’t.

and now that’s off my chest I’ll pour myself my own short measure – a small dram of Laphroig quarter cask.