Cob Need some *cob* help

[Otherfish at aol.com]

Janet
well you can do the jar test & it'll tell you somthing - tho to me it's 
pretty unreliable - what I do is take some of the dirt I'm thinking about 
using & add enought water to make a PLASTIC mix (not too wet tho !!! ) - if 
it's all mungy & sticky then its got too much clay - form it into a ball & 
toss it up & catchit - if it doesn't hang together (cracks or falls apart) 
opon impact in you hand - then it's got too much sand - if it stays together 
when you catch it & sticks to your palm when you turn your hand over then you 
are about home - make some bricks of various proportions of  soil from your 
site & additive portions of  sand or more clayey soil you get somewhere else 
(depending what the: soil / water / gooey / fall apart / preliminary test of 
the soil-as-it-comes-right-out-of-your-ground tells you you need to do) (p.s. 
be sure to RECORD your test mix proportions so you can recreate the best 
results) - if the brick cracks when it dries then you've got too much clay in 
your mix - if you can't make it stay together in its  wet brick state in the 
first place then you've got too much sand - no sweat !!!!  its's easy !!!!!  
it's funn !!!!  - MUCK WITH IT - use your powers of intellligence & 
observation !!!!  -  a tip :  toss the test ball up 2 or 3 feet & then bring 
your palm up to make a smack impact with the falling ball - that'll really 
tell ya about all you need to know  -  lastly, fine tune it when you start to 
build with it - the same hang together vs gooey mess holds true then.  
once you get you test proportions straight - make a bigger proportional mix 
on a tarp - stomp it to mix - stomp in as much straw as you can - work it to 
a plastic mix that hangs together & JANET YOU'RE COBIN'
cob on
otherfish
TCCP