Question from England

They have a quarry about 120 miles away in a place called Reigate, so will have to rent a Lorry (as we say, but where did Lorry get Lorry from?) and go get it ...

I read years ago that "Lorry" was a brand name of trucks that were exported to England, I think in the teens. That is the 19 teens and not the 20 teens. I believe they were made in Ohio. That is where the name came from.

They supply high quality white sand with no iron or impurities to the glassmaking industry. (They run it through an acid bath to get rid of the iron !!!)

Any comment re the iron?

Getting rid of the iron is critical for using sand for the finish coat. We used a brand of crushed quartz from New Jersey that I really liked. It was sold mainly for sandblasting. After a week or two, brown spots appeared on the wall. I recoated the wall for free. Besides iron oxide in the quarry, also small metal particles can get into the sand from crushing and mining. This may or not be bad for your basecoat, but they will mess up your finish. Here, we use silica sand (crushed quartz) from US Silica. There is no iron in the sand, period.

And of course they supply the original creamy coloured stuff (no acidbath; iron provides the brown/cream colouring) mainly to Golf Courses (from 2.3mm down to .25mm) They will charge me USD 15.00 per tonne instead of local USD 10.00 per tonne. The real expense will be lorry + time ...

$ 15 per ton is dirt cheap.

And then they have what they call 'Fines' which is (I think) .1mm in size, which is used for Horse Arenas !!!! (Strange place this world of ours ...)

I now have some samples, of the Golf Course Bunker Stuff, and of the Fines. So now the question is: * do I use one? * or the other? * or in combination? and if so, what?

I mean, I have the sizes in mm, but you guys don't talk in mm do you? the fines feels like espresso coffee grounds - any use? : - ) any suggestions?

Fines are way too fine. This will cause your mortar to set too fast and shrink and crack a lot. Fine sand will weaken the mix. We still use the English measurements of inches. 2.3 mm is just under 1/8 inch, which is a good size for stucco. The sand that has various grades from coarse to fine will improve strength and workability. The ideal sand for stucco that we use is just under 1/8 inch down to fine powder. This will work for your basecoat and your finish coat only if it gets painted.