Cob: COB (fwd)

[Bob]

Dear Jennifer,

It is great you have the courage to tackle building your own cob house
alone.  There must be some people in your area who would enjoy helping.
Have you checked to see if there is a volunteer organization there?.  Most
places have one.  How about asking the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts.  You
could put a notice in the news paper, too.  Make a Saturday picnic, or
other week days if children are on holiday.  Have a fun picnic for them
with some refreshments like an old fashioned barn raising or corn husking bee.
Another possibility is there is a place near that sells recycled window and
door frames with the windows and doors still in that are taken out of
buildings that are being torn down.  
Maybe there is a retired carpenter who would help you learn how to work
with hand tools.  Some might be really proud of their skills and happy to
teach a courageous little woman.  Be sure you find someone who will teach
you not just do it for you so you have the skill for the future.  You may
want to use this skill for making shelves, tables etc. for inside your house.

Good success and keep up your courage,

Bob Luitweiler  see <steadi.org/owl/all_people.htm>


At 10:33 PM 7/22/00 , you wrote:
>On Sat, 22 Jul 2000, Jennifer Lynn Highsmith wrote:
>
>[snip]
>> also want to be sure little petite (5') me can build this stuff.  I'm
>
>Don't worry, I have seen children smaller than you build with cob.
>
>> concerned that when I get to near the ceiling area that I won't be able
>> to heft the cob up there.  I will pile some of it onto a small board and
>> heft it up a bit at a time like every good ant on a mission would do I
>
>You can use straw bales stacked against the wall to provide you with steps
>to get at the higher sections, you can also build up your wall faster at
>one end than at the other, allowing you to use the wall itself as a ramp
>for climbing up to the high points, though of course eventually you will
>have to build up the low end and use stacked bales or some other means to
>reach the top of that section.
>
>[snip]
>> cob but I have finally realized I will have to use tools to make window
>> frames!  Has anyone used non-power tools to cut boards?  Like a hand
>> held saw?  I am not afraid of that but it seems to take forever to cut
>> anything.  Plus the sound of power tools seems to damage my peace and
>[snip]
>
>You only need frames for windows that you want to be able to open, for
>fixed position windows, it is possible to embed the glass directly into
>the cob, though you must build it up slowly and carefully around the
>glass, allowing it to dry enough between layers so that the weight of the
>next layer of cob is being supported primarily by the previous layers,
>of cob rather than the glass.
>
>As far as hand tools, yes they are slower, but it should only take a few
>extra minutes work to cut all the boards for a single window frame by
>hand.
>
>
>Shannon C. Dealy      |               DeaTech Research Inc.
>dealy at deatech.com     |          - Custom Software Development -
>                      |    Embedded Systems, Real-time, Device Drivers
>Phone: (800) 467-5820 | Networking, Scientific & Engineering Applications
>   or: (541) 451-5177 |                  www.deatech.com
>
>