Cob: ARE OUR NATURAL BUILDING IDEAS CAST IN STONE??? (or, the STONE vs. cast earth controversy continues)

[Ocean]

All right, all right, let me clarify...

There's a landscaping company here in town, and the stone is being shipped
here (in Oregon) from Tennessee, Utah, and Arizona.  They sell standard
flagstone which is 1-1/2 inches thick, and also a "veneer" stone, cut
1/2-3/4" thick.  Both cost around $400-500 a ton, so a veneer slice is going
to be a lot larger than the standard (cover a lot more surface area).  I
just guess-timated $50 for a counter sized chunk.

Now, regarding local availability/sustainability issues and such controversy
my suggestions have stirred up:

If I can get this stone out here, where there are no flagstones, I'm
assuming y'all might be able to find it out there, at a landscape place or
such, for a lot less than I'll have to pay.  I mean, there are being shipped
hundreds to thousands of miles!

You can cut the stuff with a $20 diamond blade in your typical skillsaw.
Yeah, here I am talking POWER TOOLS and TRUCKING in non-native materials.
BUT, where is the cement or lime or linseed oil for the "natural"
alternatives coming from anyway?  You know it: huge energy-gulping factories
hundreds or thousands of miles away...

Finally, please check the warning label on boiled linseed oil.  Almost all
of the stuff available commercially has "drying agents" added to speed
drying time which are very nasty solvents which are "known to the state of
California to cause cancer".  I don't think a linseed oil countertop makes a
lot of sense for a food prep surface, if you're really wanting a natural
alternative.  Better seek out an organic boiled oil, which will probably
cost a lot more.

I have come to terms with having to make compromises to build "naturally".
And in the areas I haven't wanted to compromise, and held to my own against
the opposition, if I examine the underlying sources, costs of materials,
etc, I find I've made compromises whether I'm admitting it or not.

Let's all lighten up, OK?  There are enough really scarey issues now to get
riled up about...

Ocean
Steward of Ahimsa Sanctuary
http://www.PeaceMaking.org



> From: "Patricia Kerns" <pkerns at twistedroad.com>
> Reply-To: "Patricia Kerns" <pkerns at twistedroad.com>
> Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 12:09:06 -0700
> To: "Ocean" <ocean at peacemaking.org>, <coblist at deatech.com>
> Subject: Re: Cob: Cast earth countertops??  WHY NOT STONE!!!
> 
> Wow!  I wish I knew where to get a nice slab for $50.  Here, if you go out
> to the desert and are lucky enough to find one the right size, you can get a
> guy to haul it to the site for you for about $250.  Then, you have to figure
> out how to install it and cut it yourself.  For a really nice cut slab,
> about $200/$300 plus several hundred to haul it in.  I love the look and
> feel of stone, but it's just out of my price and skills range compared to
> doing things with mud.  I imagine this is true for most of us
> do-it-yourselfers.  I certainly don't have an unlimited free volunteer
> force, but I get a lot done by myself and mud is amazingly easy to work
> with.
> 
> I've done a lot with linseed and find that the cost isn't too bad for inside
> work - maintenance is minimal.  For outside patios or counters, it would be
> a different matter, as I've been told the sun degrades the linseed and it
> must be reapplied periodically forever.
> 
> Patricia
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ocean <ocean at peacemaking.org>
> To: coblist at deatech.com <coblist at deatech.com>
> Date: Saturday, October 20, 2001 10:30 AM
> Subject: FW: Cob: Cast earth countertops?? WHY NOT STONE!!!
> 
> 
>> Well, if cost is your problem, then please consider that linseed oil is
>> about $10 a gallon, beeswax is even more money...after casting an earthen
>> counter and then waterproofing it, you exceed the $50 an imported slab of
>> flagstone might cost.  If you want to do it cheap, just use concrete!
>> 
> 
>