Cob: Turtle cob

[Charmaine]

I wanted to make one note about "adobe-cob" that I remember reading a
while back.
Many Native Americans in the Cohokia IL area ( where huge mounds exist
from 1,000 years ago) and also SWest areas would mix clay and straw, or
just pile moist earth into a lozenge shaped basket, called "Turtles" and
between packing the basket with dug up earth, and carrying it to the
house site, the dirt clumped, and the baskets were dumped out and these
humped dirt bricks were used to pile up to make a wall.

They were probably plastered over later to smooth the wall and stop air
gaps, but it was a practical method that used no other forms than the
baskets as both the carry tool and the shaping tool, people probably
patted and stomped the turtles a bit when placed.

Ok, my contribution for the day : >

Ms. Charmaine Taylor/ Taylor Publishing
http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com http://www.papercrete.com
PO Box 375, Cutten (Eureka) CA 95534
707-441-1632 tms at northcoast.com