Cob: Real information

[crtaylor]

>I am curious just how many of the Cobbers giving opinions have actually BUILT
>anything with cob?  Seems a lot of "Mee Too" type quotations and opinion here.
>
>The little I have played with Cob was interesting but not exactly a world
>saving material.  I am personally more fond of Lime Stabilized Soil mixtures,
>I've helped with in South America.
>
>Anybody want to say they LIVE in a Cob House today?  Can we visit it?
>
>Thanks
>
>Michael (A often lurker)
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Well Michael...my favorite topic..lime stabilized soil!

My  cob and Cobwood ( my recipe) garden bench, (about a ton in weight) is
very comfy to sit on, was hand sulpted from the ground up, on a rubble
stone base of (yes indeed) broken concrete chunks destined for the landfill
til I recycled them.

I fell in love with Becky Bee's large bus bench in her cobbers book, then
really fell in love with Kiko Denzer's Phoenix rising bench and bread
oven...and got busy with testing  papercrete, cob, Cobwood, etc etc mixes
to see what I liked best.  I do call my mix Cobwood because it does use
sawdust and lime to stabilize and make a natural cement out of sticky water
loving gumbo clay, thus making it an ideal natural material.  The high back
and curved arms will be earth plastered, with a  final tinted limewash for
weather protection.  It isnt a house, i'm not strong enough to take on that
large of a project, but I use my bench everyday, the cat sits on my feet as
I read a book,or  take a break from computer work, or just sit and listen
to the  fog horns on the bay. I'm happy with its lumpy, organic shape,
sculpted  low so my short legs can touch the ground.  A real artisitc
person could 'cob' in curved driftwood, stones, shells, etc and make it a
real work of creativity and personal expression.  Heck, even a doghouse of
cob is a good exercise in building experience.


PS my Cobwood bench was featured ( with photos and a small Cobwood model I
built) in a local art exhibit, and now 4 people have lined up for a
"seminar" in how to build one of their own...what hath I wrought?


as John Fordice sez: Cob on!

Charmaine R. Taylor
Taylor Publishing & Elk River Press
PO Box 6985 Eureka CA 95502  1-888-441-1632
More than 300 books for Building & Sustainable living
http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/