David (in Normandy) wrote:
But also as NM says, quicklime is really nasty stuff and can cause
serious burns to eyes, lungs and skin. You should take extreme
precautions when handling it.

Yes, I know it's nasty stuff and plan to treat it with considerable respect.
The thing that surprised me was that I could actually walk into a garden
centre here and casually buy a 50kg sack of quicklime.
It wasn't until I got it home that I noticed it was marked 92% CaO, 1% MgO
then I realised I'd bought quicklime instead of slaked lime (CaOH). There
are no hazard warning labels on the sack.
[...]

Not a subject I've ever had to talk about in French, but the faithful
Robert & Collins Senior tells me quicklime is, unsurprisingly, "chaux
vive". Slaked lime is "chaux éteinte". Meanwhile, my sympathies.
Personally, I'd park the bag in an odd corner and forget about it for a
year, and pop down to the shop again and get some craie, calcaire, ou
dolomie en poudre (I suppose that's what they call them: they get a few
Google.fr hits), "Mais pas, vous savez, m'sieu, de la chaux vive."

--
Mike.