we made a box out of a sheet of ply, fixed 2 sides and 2 ends on it to make a box,
Roughcaster.
that box is what a banker was / it is not just a board, before cement mixers all lime mortar was mixed in a banker,
the lime came raw as lumps and was tip into a pit then flooded with water, this was left to bubble away as raw lime heats
with water added, after some time (which I can't remember how long) but I think it was some weeks the lime was then called slaked,
this is then mixed with sand in the banker with the hair being teased in for plastering and no hair added for the brickwork mortar,
the mortar was stored in bulk and covered with a tarp',
the mortar was then taken from the heap and remixed or knock up again as the brickies or plasterers needed it.
the lime pit was one of the first jobs to be dug on site do to the time it took to slake the lime.
Blimey Marsh, this really is interesting history for me; do you know all about this stuff first hand