Cob: re: Wood instead of Straw?

[janell kapoor]

howdy,
at 'build here now 2001' a man named mick from estonia said they have a 
tradition in his homeland of using woodchips, wood shavings and cattail 
fluff mixed with clay slip then tamped between removable forms. this is 
quite different than cob, though similar to 'strawclay' using wood rather 
than straw.
i recall him mentioning that a varitey of chip & shaving size is ideal. i 
think throwing some long strong straw in would also help make it an even 
stronger interlocked wall. you can also build a wall cavity and fill it in 
with the same wood chip/clay slip mixture.
i got the impression that this is an old way of building in estonia with 
pretty good insulative value, i'd guess similar to strawclay though i don't 
know for sure.
please note: strawclay is a different technique than cob. usually used to 
build straight higher insulation walls... a nice compliment to southside cob 
walls which are mainly mass. strawclay walls also tend to go up more quickly 
though you lose the sculptability of cob.
also note: these walls are NOT load-bearing.
some folks at the forestry cooperative at earthaven ecovillage have plans to 
build like this because they have a lot of scrap wood. right now they are 
just waiting on a proper chipper.
if you have questions about strawclay construction you can email me at 
janell at kleiwerks.com.
good luck and let us know how it goes,
janell

Janell Kapoor
Kleiwerks
828.252.7701
janell at kleiwerks.com
www.kleiwerks.com


-----Original Message-----
   From: owner-coblist at deatech.com [mailto:owner-coblist at deatech.com]On
Behalf Of Brian Jensen
   Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 3:34 PM
   To: coblist at deatech.com
   Subject: Cob: Wood instead of Straw?


   Hello

   I am curious if there has been any cob that has been made with shredded
wood? My city has a wood recycling program and I was thinking that some of
the smaller graded material would work in place of straw. I can see that
there are a lot of factors i.e. wood type, particle size, wood-sand-clay
ratio, that could affect the outcome of the cob.
   thanks in advance.
   bjj
   jensens at crcom.net


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