Marble resistance to Weather +

["Clive Murray-White" <clivemw@zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

Hi all,

You will have heard both Simon and I rave about Wm Ashcroft's indestructible
chisels, well they recommend a marble weather protection product called
Tenax Hydrex Idrorepellente, I have never really been able to explain
exactly how it works:-

On the can it states "Hydrex operates on the surface of materials, it stops
microporosities so that it prevents liquids from penetrating the material
but it remains permeable to vapours letting materials breath and keeping
their characteristics unchanged.

On the stone, Hydrex neither creates superficial films nor causes colour
changes."

Ashcroft's recommend 6 applications on marble. I have used it on all the
sculptures that go outside and believe that it works very well as I have had
no surface deterioration (or loss of shine) on any of the sculptures
including those located in what I would describe as pretty polluted
environments.

It should be noted however that I do not have any sculptures placed in areas
subject to extreme temperature changes, ie freezing.

Now to another topic:- I'm considering buying another air hammer for fine
work (the one I use now is a pissy little el cheapo- I thought I should also
introduce all the "piss" variants that we have in our version of the
language), I have heard people talk about the Trow and Holden Bantam & 1/2",
Cuturi "V' or "D".

My normal way of working is to rough things out with the big hammer, a Bon
Accord type "E", and then go straight to hand chisels burrs etc. The big
hammer tends to be a bit too brutal for the smaller sculptures, so I'm
looking for a really good light, reliable, manoeuvrable short stroke hammer.
The kind of questions that I find myself asking are, is the T&H Bantam too
small, is the tool shank adapter that would allow me to use all my 1/2 inch
chisels something that makes the hammer unwieldy, what size chisels does the
Cuturi "D" take, is it also too small. And are both Cuturi "V" and T&H 1/2
too similar to my Bon Accord "E"

Hope someone can do the comparisons.

Regards to all
Clive Murray-White
Web: www.cowwarr.com