Horse hair?
Hair is used in plaster as a binding medium, and gives tenacity to the material. Traditionally
horsehair was the most commonly used binder, as it was easily available before the development of the motor-car. 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.
Ox-hair, which is sold in three qualities, is now the kind usually specified; but horsehair, which is shorter, is sometimes substituted or mixed with the ox-hair in the lower qualities. Good hair should be long (In the UK cow and horse hair of short and long lengths is used), and left greasey (lanolin grease) because this protects against some degradation when introduced into the very high alkaline plaster.
[1] Before use it must be well beaten, or teased, to separate the lumps. In America,
goats' hair is frequently used, though it is not so strong as ox-hair. 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). Hair reinforcement in lime plaster is common and many types of hair and other organic fibres can be found in historic plasters [4]. However, organic material in lime will degrade in damp environments particularly on damp external renders.[5] This problem has given rise to the use of polyprolene fibres in new lime renders [6]
Manila
hemp fiber has been used as a substitute for hair. Plaster for hair slabs made with manila hemp fiber broke at 195 lb (88 kg), plaster mixed with sisal hemp at 150 lb (68 kg),
jute at 145 lb (66 kg), and goats' hair at 144 lb (65 kg).[
citation needed]Another test was made in the following manner. 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 remaining in a dry cellar for nine months the barrels were opened. It was found that the hair had been almost entirely eaten away by the action of the lime, and the mortar consequently broke up and crumbled quite easily. The mortar containing the Manila hemp, on the other hand, showed great cohesion, and required some effort to pull it apart, the hemp fiber being undamaged.[
citation needed]
Sand/aggregate
