[1] Plasterwork is one of the most ancient of handicrafts employed in connection with building operations, the earliest evidence showing that the dwellings of primitive man were erected in a simple fashion with sticks and plastered with mud.

Soon a more lasting and sightly material was found and employed to take the place of mud or slime, and that perfection in the compounding of plastering materials was approached at a very remote period is made evident by the fact that some of the earliest plastering which has remained undisturbed excels in its scientific composition that which we use at the present day.

The pyramids in Egypt contain plasterwork executed at least four thousand years ago, probably much earlier, and yet existing, hard and durable, at the present time.

[2] From recent discoveries it has been ascertained that the principal tools of the plasterer of that time were practically identical in design, shape and purpose with those used today.

Very early in the history of Greek architecture we find the use of plaster of a fine white lime stucco, such has been found at Mycenae.

The art had reached perfection in Greece more than five centuries before Christ, and plaster was frequently used to cover temples externally and internally, in some cases even where the building was of marble.

It formed a splendid ground for decorative painting, which at this period of Grecian history had reached a very high degree of beauty.

In the more common operations of plastering, comparatively few tools and few materials are required, but the workman efficient in all branches of the craft will possess a very large variety of implements.

Care should be taken to check the PH value of the wood; oak contains tannic acid which attacks the lime, this can compromise bond strength.

Lathing nails are usually of iron, cut, wrought or cast, and in the better class of work they are galvanized to prevent rusting.

Hair functions in much the same way as the strands in fiberglass resin, by controlling and containing any small cracks within the mortar while it dries or when it is subject to flexing.

The quantity used in good work is one pound of hair to two or three cubic feet of coarse stuff (in the UK up to 12 kg per metric cube).

Two barrels of mortar were made up of equal proportions of lime and sand, one containing the usual quantity of goats' hair, and the other Manila fiber.

After dampening the surface to be coated, two horizontal bands of render called "screeds" are applied, one at around head height and the other just above floor level, these are then marked for vertical/horizontal alignment, finished, then allowed to partially dry.

The render is then finished with a float (a smooth flat wooden tool with handle) to fill or remove larger imperfections.

The finishing or setting plaster coat which is about 3/16 inches thick is worked with a hand trowel on the surface of the rendering, which must first be well wetted.