Cob: Machine mixing methods.

[Darel Henman]

Ryan,

Another idea for you.

If you made a little cob holding area for mixing.  A hole and possible a
little levee around it.  You could put in your clay soil, straw, water
it, and then put on long rubber  boots and employ a roto-tiller, to mix
up the pit of cob.  I've not done this personally, so I don't know if
it'll clog up or not, but I  have seen a picture of it.  I should think
the percentage of water is important.  It would be a very simple
solution and roto-tillers are usually available at nearby machine rental
stores.

Darel  

Shawn Antaya wrote:
> 
> Ryan,
> 
> FYI - I've used a plaster mixer with great success.  The batches have a
> little extra water but this proves acceptable in the dry Taos, NM climate.
> The rubber blades on this mixer scrape the sticky cob off the walls of the
> mixer to get a consistent blend of clay, sand, straw and water.  A bread
> mixer (to my memory) does not scrape the walls.  I've found that cob sticks
> to everything while bread dough tends to stick to itself.  A thick cob
> mixture may not mix properly, a thin mixture may mix well but be too thin.
> Good luck.  :-)
> 
> Sincerely,
> Shawn Antaya
> 
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Ryan Auge <ryan_auge at yahoo.ca>
> Reply-To: Ryan Auge <ryan_auge at yahoo.ca>
> To: coblist at deatech.com
> Subject: Cob: Machine mixing methods.
> Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 13:07:09 -0400 (EDT)
> 
> Hi there,
>     I've read some of the messages relating to mixing cob with machines, and
> was
> noticing that a lot of the conversation leads towards cement mixers.  I was
> wondering if anyone had ever experimented with using a commercial grade
> dough
> mixer, like those used in bakeries and restaurant kitchens, to mix cob.
> Cement
> mixers tend to basically scrape the contents of the mixer along and up the
> outside edges of the container, then let gravity pull the contents back down
> into itself.  Dough mixers rely on the motion of the mixing arm to more
> consistantly kneed the contents of the container into itself.  I would think
> this would allow a pretty good cob mix, straw and all, considering the
> quality
> of doughs that come out of commercial mixers even when all the ingredients
> are
> just tossed straight into the bowl while the machine is running.  If you
> have
> tried, or can try, why not let everyone know.
> 
> Ryan Auge
> 
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