Met history writes  
did it also have the  characteristic (in NYC) face of  
feathery layers of spalling stone,  like sand dollars, sort of?  If so, did 
 you 
hammer the hell out  of them (as Ralph would)?  Or did you somehow keep   
them?  
Excellent query  ;  Our goal was to keep character of Dracula's castle 
(salem Witch  Museum)  
using the original  fabric stone of the building  
; the Portland stone  spalling that didn't come off with the hard scrape of 
a margin trowel  ;was considered stout enough to keep in place so as to add 
to the  historical character of the building  . 
Since the spalls were  part of this “ruined patina “ we decided that all  
spalls whose faces faced down   
(like a frown ) were  left alone ;as they were not susceptible to catching 
water   
The spalls however  that curved up (like a smile )  could catch water  we 
finger filled  in and made smooth  with the Edison  . 
patching material  . 
So from the ground  they all look like open spalls . 
We also did this with  any and all stone that was “sunken” at its face so 
as its bottom joint had  receded ¼ “ or more  to the inside  of the stone 
below it  
Here we filled in this  joint and thus gave it a “wash “ matching the 
stone in color so as there could  be no water collection    
Masonry specialists  who evaluate and restore monuments know that one hat 
dosen’t fit all when it  comes to means and methods and especially materials  
Now  Just for the  record other top named  patching materials were tried 
;but Edison gave us the best results  ; 
We also  added a small % of  the crushed portland stone in fines  to the 
surface of the patch  for additional texture . 
And mica  reflection  
The combined effort of  patching ; pinning and recreating the missing 
tooling in half patches has  preserved both the original stone and the historic 
character of the  building  that the public knows as  the Salem Witch Museum  
The invite is still  good;  come share the dust ,or see  you at RUDADS  PTN 
 in Kentuckey   where the Beer is dark   
The wood is old And the stone is dry  /PY  

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