What is lime mortar ?
It is a mortar composed of sand, lime and water.
I use Chaux Hydraulique, Iām not sure itās exactly the same as lime putty, I mix it one part lime to three parts sand.
Jamesā¦ you have caused great consternation in my householdā¦ I am wandering around tapping the walls to see if we (by that I mean OH) can expose some stoneworkā¦ He is not too keen on me finding him yet another job to doā¦ 
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I have done a huge amount of pointing, inside and out, during the past 22 years. As I said I prefer a small trowel. Personal preference, grandmother, eggs.
I disagree about lime pointed walls being a pain in the neck and collecting dust that is almost impossible to get rid of. My French house has far less dust than any of the fully carpeted houses that I lived in in other countries and a little spring cleaning with a vacuum cleaner easily removes any dust that might have settled on the walls along with the occasional spiderās web. Exposed stones with lime pointing us a great way to control damp in old walls; far better than hiding it behind insulated placo.
I have done loads of pointing too over the past ten years, 2 parts yellow sable riviĆØre to 1 part NHL 3,5 (pure blanc or naturel), always use a cement mixer and always use a small trowel. Just need to be careful when adding the last touch of water, can go from being a perfect mix to slop very easily.
Just finished the front of my house if anyone is interested. 
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Wowā¦ Markā¦ that looks lovelyā¦well done !
Just interested to know why you think cement mixers should not be used, or banned, when doing pointing.
You kinda answered the question yourself when you said about adding to much water. Too much water and it becomes very sloppy and sometimes unusable. You can keep an eye on the mix when doing it yourself.
I think mixing it yourself also gives a more homogenous mix. OK, it is hard work but it is good for the abs and keeps you fit.
My turn, when you said you used a small trowel, how did you apply the chaux to the joint ?
Good work by the way. It is very nice pro job.
Also, your ratio is 2:1. Others on this thread say 3:1. I go for 2.5:1
Does it make a difference ?
Personally, I find mixing by hand and pita, much prefer the mixer. I use a small trowel and spot board, push the mix in as far as I can, add a bit more if needed. There is quite a knack to get it right and you do need a lot of confidence in your mix and technique or you can end up with a lot on the floor ( I still manage to get a lot on the floor). I was quite lucky doing my house, my son (mainly) had the knack of getting the mix right (he thought he was having a holiday from the Navy- yeah right 
)
Iāve certainly never had a problem using a mixer, I know what I want the mixture to look like in the drum and keep adding water slowly until itās falling correctly.
I guess the thing is that āweā all get there in the end by using slightly different techniques, ratios, mixing, application, brushing etc. There is no absolute right way to do it as long as you are happy with the end result 
Just started on the back of my house, only on a single level, but small stones thrown together with cement , most of which needs knocking out first aaarrrrgggghhhh
Phewā¦ OH is greatly relieved to hear that none of our walls are suitable to āexposeāā¦ the outer ones are all insulated and the inner ones seem to be of some old brick (which is why they have been covered)ā¦
Friends in Jarnac will be interested to hear the advice on this thread. They (and we) have already managed to knock some old plaster off a staircase wallā¦ and discovered some stoneworkā¦ yippeeā¦ I am sure they will be thrilled when I go tapping round their houseā¦
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Taking out the existing joint is the hardest bit. If it has been pointed with cement or mortar then quite often you will break the stones when trying to remove it which is terrible. The last walls I did, I had to first hammer off about 5cms of concrete render and then what was in between the stones. It took weeks. But, when you discover old door ways, windows, bread ovens of what ever it makes it worth it.
If there is plaster on the stones, that can be a nightmare to if it has been plastered well. The worst in when the joint has turned into sugar. You canāt chip it out so you have to scape it out.
In terms of doing the pointing yourself, yes you will make a better job of it than a contractor. Contractors will work quickly and a lot of them will not do a good job. Also a lot of the workers are agency types with no experience who really could not give a monkeys. It is terrible when you see a stone wall butchered and left with stains or whatever.
I took this photo just last week in a town north of Paris. Iām sure that the difference between the pointing is more a case of fashion at the time of application rather than being right or wrong but, in my opinion one dwelling was lovely and the otherā¦
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Hmmā¦interesting.
You can see the staining on the chaux on the house on the right where it joins the other house. I guess that comes from the gutter or humidity rising through the wall. Also, being so close to the road will not help. That is the big problem with chaux as it can look messy quite quickly. Looking at the corner stones it looks like it has been rebuilt in history as well. Maybe there was an entrance there ?? It donāt look right.
I donāt like the style on the left. The dark grey joints does not work. I think completely rendering the house in a nice enduit might have worked better or just having āsomeā of the heads of the stone exposed.
It is a balancing act.
The photo was taken using the pretty useless camera on my phone hence the poor quality. In real life the difference between the two houses was very obvious, the one on the right attractively finished with chaux the one on the left pointed with a raised, dark mortar. I took the photo because they highlighted what I like and donāt like. Given the position and age of the buildings it is unlikely that either would have had exposed stonework for long, the norm in that part of that town is smart render.
Itās hard to guess at the history of the two buildings but my own house has a similar vertical join on its front wall and it has been suggested to me that it was once a smaller dwelling with an open barn beside it. Iād thought that the building on the left might be the later addition. The staining on the house on the right was much less obvious in real life than in the photo. Being by the road is of little consequence as itās a tiny backstreet, one that Iād never been down before despite knowing that part of the town for most of my life. It has very little passing traffic and is little more than a pedestrian short cut.
Having zoomed into your photo, you can actually see that it is the stones that are giving it a dark appearance in the sense they are not the same ones that were there originally. There was definitely a hole/entrance or whatever there for some reason. The window on the left was not there originally either or was it a door once ?
In olden times (especially when concrete render was invented) people rendered their houses in towns and villages in France because having exposed stones was seen as being poor.
Where we used to live, a house next to ours (beautiful house) was rendered in that horrible 60ās render. It was owned by an elderly couple. One day they had artisans take the render taken off and and the stones were exposed. It looked fantastic. A week later, the artisans re-rendered it in very much the same colour. I could not believe it. I guess they still had have the same attitude.
Absolutely GREAT āTHANK-YOU !