Hi all- I have begin to lime point the front of our c1800's barn conversion (gritstone on the front and mostly sandstone on the rear). The patches I have done so far should be obvious in the photo attached. Decided to darken it a little bit compared with the rear, and after testing decided on a 2.5 parts yellow washed graded gritsand, 0.5 parts dark sand and 1 part NHL3.5 hydraulic lime. All has cured nicely except that it looks a bit raw (maybe a bit of effloresence caused by the hot, dry weather- I think I managed to keep it moist for 8 days covered by hessian and sprayed on the surface). The pointing is completely shot in the bits I haven't done (old lime is made of sands approx. same colour as my sand mix- lime looks like it has left it- and lighter patches that have gone grey on the surface over time). Maybe it is fine and the starkness is just comparing new pointing with zero-pointed black voids? Anyone got any thoughts on if I am going in the right direction? I suppose could paint on some mud to calm it down a bit? Introduce a bit more black sand- or just continue with mix I have settled on?
Best regards

Back to front for me, start at the top and work down!

Looks brilliant though, keep it damped down for a good while

We used to age it by washing down with dirty water (soil and water stirred up)