[Cob] natural building purism, practicality & appropriate technology

[Ivan]

Hello everyone...

I seldom stay on top of the coblist messages anymore but I happened to 
check lately and appreciate the philosophical discussion taking place 
here in the last few threads concerning purism and practicality. I feel 
that many of us deal with this issue on a daily basis and not just in 
building alternatively. I believe a happy medium can be struck but it 
concerns more our idea of what constitutes technology than a compromise 
of values.

Let me explain...even cob uses some basic tools - the tarp, the shovel, 
buckets... however we never hear anyone condemning such technologies. We 
all draw our lines of purism differently but on the whole, from what I 
have experienced I would guess that the majority draw the line of purism 
when oil and gas machinery and/or chemical industry supplies come into 
use and some draw it at electricity. This is a complicated mix of 
technologies which has evolved over 300 years and thus is not as easily 
distinct as the difference between modern agriculture and organic foods 
which really has a pre-chemical divide to it - pre 1920's (only nearly 
100 years ago!!). So, outside of this divide of modern supplies and 
techniques there is still an enormous experience for us to draw from 
pre-dating modernism. Just as important is our ingenuity and progress 
made since that time... and we can pick and choose tools, supplies and 
techniques which we feel fit our global sense of purism without having 
to build everything with our bare hands!

Today, are we still not pioneers? Currently I am in no position nor have 
I the time to investigate further (surviving!) but I want us to remember 
that we can use man powered gadgets that will enable us to ease our 
backs and also build faster with only the smallest imprint on the web of 
life. Technologies such as the waterwheel and windmill have done this 
for us, it is what pulleys do (without harnessing the power of animals 
or dead plant matter in all its forms), horse drawn threshing machines 
etc... . There are many examples but one that I like that that gives 
greater perspective into the vision I am having are the cranes that the 
romans built 2000 years ago; cranes operated by 2 people (in a wheel not 
unlike a mouse wheel!) using counterwieghts to manouever supplies and 
build with.

These are not technologies that harm us in the short or long term. They 
make our lives easier and sometimes even improve with finishing a 
project faster. This perhaps would be a happy medium that the masses 
could adopt? Anyone out there have experience with such technologies or 
techniques?

It is evident that such technologies are more complicated than a shovel 
and tarp but definitely within our reach! The knowledge of use and how 
to build them are small obstacles we as an alternative building 
community should be able to master quickly...created and adapted for our 
needs (in this case cob mixing) and built locally with very cheap and 
accessible materials.

Some years ago when planning on building a home I remember trying to 
find such existing alternatives (an appropriate mixer) but did not come 
across any and read (back then in a book) that cement mixers and 
rototillers did not come close to perfecting a mix such as is needed, so 
I started doodling a sketch for a new machine to do the job. Before I 
went much farther with it we had opted for hempcrete on 3 sides (for 
speed and insolation in the cold Quebec winters) and ended up doing cob 
with windows only on the South facing first floor (and second floor 
using strawbale), so building the machine would have helped us only a 
little and it would have taken more time overall for such a small 
portion of the house (as any new gadget does to iron out the bugs). So 
we did the cob portion the old fashioned way... with sweat, smiles and 
patience but for any larger project I would reconsider building a 'human 
assisted cob mixer'.

I will build with cob again - this time in my new unfound home in the 
South... but although I am not ready now, if anyone has links to such 
trials or real
human assisted technology please let me know.

I will also share a bit about the plans I had in case it sparks 
ingenuity in any of you. The main principle I had went something like 
this...

It had two different parts / purposes.
The first was to mix the dry goods... the second to add the water and 
eventually the straw.

The first was similar to a hand driven concrete mixer and there were 
several methods... the one I prefered was: A frame, hip high with a 
swivelled head plate attached and a container to take the dry materials 
attached to that - a metal drum from a dryer was the recycled material 
of choice, with 2 ropes wrapped around it - one pulled one way... the 
other the opposite... so one man could walk one way, then the other 
spinning and mixing the contents easily...

This was then supposed to be dumped into the second contraption... 
either a shallow narrow pit dug into the ground or made with straw bales 
and a tarp.
This had a frame above it with a pulley attached to wieghts (some medium 
sized rocks), that would be pulled by a rope and left to drop onto the 
narrow channel pounding the cob together. I pictured this more like the 
kneading of bread... the pounding weights would bind the clay, sand and 
straw tightly...I can't recall how I thought about scooping it out to 
turn over though? Perhaps it was just that the tarp could be flipped as 
in the common fashion of cob making...hmm.

Another method for the second contraption (again better with two people) 
was a type of double rolling pin design... where the contents would be 
squeezed through them (not sure at this point about the straw?) - loaded 
from the top and reloaded until the perfect consistency. The idea to 
turn the pins was a bicycle frame... where if needed the the body of the 
rider could force weight on the gears... but I think that as long as 
there was someone filling and refilling (throwing globs with their 
hands) that the weight of the material would help force itself through 
the pins when turned.

Of course... one could take all these ideas or other design and attach 
it to a waterwheel and you have mechanization!

Well - just some food for thought.

Have a wonderful week!

In solidarity
Ivan Tattoli