[Cob] Cob: Paper clay

[Raduazo at aol.com]

The web page you mentioned does not give  much information. If you really 
want to try this, the patent disclosure  (below) is much more helpful. This mix 
is pretty much what I have been  using for the last several years as plaster 
for cob houses and wattle and daub  birdhouses. I am not as fussy about blending 
the paper fibers because I am not  going to fire the resulting product. My 
system is to cut a barrel in half, put  screened clay into the barrel, add lots 
of paper, and do jogging in place till  every thing is blended.  You get 
pretty good at finding lumps of paper with  the soles of your feet after a while.  
    My mix is two buckets of clay, one bucket of sand  and one large bag of 
shredded paper. It takes about two or three buckets of  water to hydrate this. 
Since the layers of paper cob stick together I am  attempting to use this as a 
roof for a small building (Children's  playhouse)
     I have pictures if anyone is interested.
Ed
You can get the entire patent at
_http://164.195.100.11/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/
search-adv.htm&r=2&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=ptxt&S1=5726111&OS=5726111&RS=5726111_ 
(http://164.195.100.11/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/searc
h-adv.htm&r=2&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=ptxt&S1=5726111&OS=5726111&RS=5726111) 
Below I have only reproduced the disclosure.
 
paper/clay
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION (US Patent 5726111)

These  and other objects of the present invention are provided by following 
the steps  of the process of the present invention which comprises first 
preparing the  paper pulp by providing an uncoated paper or source of cellulose 
supply. This  paper supply may be shredded paper from offices, schools, factories, 
etc. The  best type of cellulose fiber for these purposes us, generally, 
shorter lengths  of fiber, which are commonly found in uncoated office/copier 
papers, or uncoated  brochure card stock, or blotter papers any unsized paper, 
even toilet paper. In  other words, any paper which tears easily and which breaks 
down to the fibrous  condition in water easily. Place the shredded paper in a 
mixing vessel  sufficiently large to allow the complete and full saturation 
with clean hot  water. The temperature while not critical, does effect the 
speed of the soaking  process. In order to more fully homogenize the paper pulp, 
use a glaze-mixing  blunger to stir the paper water mixture until fully 
saturated and the fibers are  dispersed in the water. A small amount of a liquid 
bleach may be optionally  added to the mix at this time, if it is planned to store 
the pulp-water mixture  for a period of a week or more. Dry clay, in powdered 
form, may be directly  added to the pulp water mixture and blunged together 
into a consistency that  resembles oatmeal for the best results. One can also 
achieve a good paper clay  mixture by first preparing a pulp, by blunging 
shredded papers of the type  referred supra., extracting most of the water by 
straining or sieving the paper  soup in a mesh screen, and adding the wet pulp to a 
ready prepared clay which  has been liquefied to a smooth honey consistency. 
The principle of the present  invention is that each cellulose fiber will be 
surrounded by millions of  microscopic clay particles in a solution of water, 
then a the water evaporates,  microscopic resilient hollow cellulose fibers 
will be absorbed uniformly  throughout the matrix. It is important that the 
shredded papers have been  sufficiently beaten or broken down into fibers so best 
results will be achieved.  

An appropriate clay is selected depending upon the desired texture,  color, 
type of job, etc. In order to obtain a fine surface, for example, a  refined 
clay casting slip or porcelain clay should be utilized, as well as using  the 
highest rag-content paper to form the pulp-mix. The selected clay should be  
mixed with water in sufficient amounts to form a slip with about the consistency  
of honey at standard laboratory temperature. An optional deflocculant may be  
added to the slip mix if desired. 

The paper-clay slip is formed by  blending the paper pulp into the clay slip 
in an amount of from about 10% or 20%  to about 50% by volume. The higher the 
cellulose content of the paper-clay slip,  the lighter and more porous the 
fired product. A large percentage of cellulose  content in the paper-pulp slip 
could raise the maturation temperature because of  the clays added to commercial 
papers being recycled. The paper-clay slip is  continuously mixed with a 
blunger and when the desired consistency of the pulp  mixture content is reached 
the product is ready. The paper-clay product can now  be hand cast, cast in 
plaster molds or poured out onto large plaster bats to  make slabs and tubes plus 
shapes and forms, up to 4' thick if desired.  

The following are Examples of the process of the project of the present  
invention: 

EXAMPLE 1 

In a 5 liter container put 3.0 liters by  vol. of shredded copier paper, pour 
in 3 liters of 100 degree C clear water,  homogenize the mixture with a large 
blunger for ten minutes. The mixture is  placed on a 50 mesh screen and 
pressed lightly to squeeze out the water. Pulp is  placed in a water tight 
container. A white porcelain clay slip is mixed with 40%  pulp by vol. and mixed 
completely with a blunger. Excess water is removed and  the mixture is allowed to 
dry to desired consistency for use. The product is  poured into a plaster 
figure mold. 

EXAMPLE 2 

In a 10 liter  container put 3.5 liters by vol. of shredded computer paper, 
pour in 8 liters of  120 degree C clear water, homogenize the mixture with a 
large blunger for  fifteen minutes. The mixture is placed on a fine screen and 
pressed lightly to  squeeze out the water. The wet pulp is placed in a water 
tight container. A red  earthenware clay slip is mixed with 20% pulp by vol. and 
mixed completely with a  blunger. Excess water is removed and the mixture is 
allowed to dry with  occasional stirring to desired consistency. The product 
is poured onto a slab  and wedged into Hastic molding clay.